


Coal Hill Academy for peculiars

by Qwerty1



Series: Doctor Who AU fanfics [4]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs
Genre: AU, Angst, Crossover, Drama, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, and add a few of my own, had to change some things, to make it fit the story line
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-08-16 21:16:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 39,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8117842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qwerty1/pseuds/Qwerty1
Summary: On an isolated island in the middle of nowhere, where no normals will be able to find them, the young shape shifter Clara Oswald has opened a school. It's not like any school, though. It's a special school, for special people. People who can move things with just their mind or lift things they shouldn't be able to. It's the Coal Hill Academy for peculiars, for those who can do things others can't.  This is the story of love, friendship and not being like everyone else. And, maybe the most important, it's about finding and accepting yourself...





	1. The letter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys I am SO excited for this story! I've been wanting to do a crossover with DW ever since I read the books. I feel there's great potential within this plot, potential that will be released in pretty long chapters. That's why I might not update this very quickly, but I hope you'll all cope. Think of Amy, 2000 years in a box... 
> 
> River: SPOILERS!  
> Me: Shh, you'll scare off the readers! 
> 
> Anyways guys.. Enjoy! x
> 
> All credit and love to the absolutely awesome [pillie-biper10 on Tumblr](http://pillie-biper10.tumblr.com/) for making the amazing cover. I love it so much and I'm so very grateful <3

_Dear reader!_

_If you have recieved this letter you have been gifted with a unique ability of some sort, one you may or may not be aware of yet. This phenomena is known as peculiarity, and I am one of many who considers this as one of the greatest gifts anyone can be blessed with._

_Each year, aproxomatly ten children with some kind of peculiarity are born, and no one’s ability is ever the same as someone else’s. There used to be a time when peculiars just like you lived in harmony with the so-called normals, without the fear of getting judged based on your peculiarity. Sadly, those days are long gone._

_That’s why I’ve sent you this letter. I, Clara Oswald, have decided to take this matter in my own hands. I’ve recently opened the Coal Hill academy for peculiars, located on an isolated island with beautiful nature and unhabited by any normals. Here, you’ll get the oppertunity to learn about your unique skills and you’ll also meet others in similar situations. You’ll get your own dorm, which you’ll be free to decorate as you please, and I will do everything in my power to make sure you’re happy here. My main goal with this project is for you to leave the school with the basic knowledge of peculiardom, as well as better understanding of your own peculiarity and the will and spirit to change the world in order to destroy the norm that different means something negative._

_Along with this letter you’ll find a map and coordinates telling you where to find this island. I would be very happy if you only showed that information to your family, since I want to keep this place hidden from anyone who isn’t peculiar so all of you can stay here in peace._

_I look forward to meeting you_

_Sincerely yours_


	2. Welcome to Coal Hill

The small island known as Gallifrey might be one of the most beautiful places Rose has ever seen, and so far she’s only seen the beach and a few of the threes in the distance. The sand under her feet is crystal white and so soft she has to keep moving in order to keep her special made shoes from sinking down. She can already see a simple wodden sign shaped as an arrow, telling her which way this school is.

 “Now remember sweetheart, no staying up past midnight!”  
“Mum!” Rose complains, not a little disappointed to see her mum still standing there.  
“You sure you don’t want me to follow you there? You might get lost or eaten by wild animals or something”, Jackie tries one last time.  
“No! Look, she put up signs so we wouldn’t get lost. And, wild animals? Really mum?”

She’s about to start walking again, when Jackie takes a step forward and embraces her in a big hug. Rose lets go of her suitcase to return the embrace, before stepping away.  
“Alright, my shoes are sinking”, she laughs.  
It’s true, they are. Jackie assists her with putting het feet back on top of the sand before waving goodbye to her daughter.  
“Promise you’ll write!” she calls before stepping back into the small boat they hired to get here.  
“I promise!” Rose confirms before gripping her suitcase again, dragging it after her in the direction the sign’s pointing.

 The school itself isn’t hard to find, since there’s signs just about everywhere. The Coal Hill Academy for peculiars is located in a mighty building made of white stone, in the middle of a green field surrounded by tall threes. Rose pulls her suitcase up the stairs to the freshly painted porch, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves before entering the house.

 The hallway floor is covered in an dark red carpet, the color a good contrast to the softly brown walls. A large part of both walls are covered in photographs, people in posh clothes posing with small pets or proudly displaying their peculiarity. There’s a young woman who catches Rose’s attention, body of a human but arms of a lobster-like creature. The sight gives her chills. She won’t meet anyone like that here, will she?

 That question’s answered when the hallway opens up into what looks like a living room. The room’s dominated by three couches placed in the middle, and Rose is honestly suprised by how normal they all seem. No one is anything like the peculiars she’s read about in the books Jackie’s brought home. Anxious (and very human) faces stares back at her, and suddenly she doesn’t feel so uncomfortable.

 The young woman who has been running around the room handing out cups of hot chocolate to everyone pauses her movements, turning around. When she lays her eyes on Rose her eyes lights up like a child on Christmas morning, hurrying over to her.  
“Welcome to Coal Hill, very nice to meet you! I’m Clara, Clara Oswald.”  
“Rose Tyler”, Rose tells her in a small voice, hesitating before shaking her outstretched hand.  
“Well then, Rose, take a seat and I’ll explain things shortly. You can put your luggage over there”, Clara explains, nodding at a corner where several bags are leaned against the wall.

 Rose follows her instructions silently, setting her suitcase aside with the rest of the luggage before sitting down at the far end of the left couch. She peers at the two girls sitting in the opposite side of the couch. They are almost identical, same red hair, though it’s obvious that there are several years between them. The older looks a little over Rose’s age, and the younger can’t be older than ten. They are sitting very close to each other, their bodies more or less pressed against each other. The little one most be so nervous, she thinks for herself.

 Actually, there’s only one person present who doesn’t look anxious at all: a boy about her age, dressed in a blue suit and with hair that looks like it’s defying gravity. He’s leaned back against the couch’s backrest, looking oddly relaxed for someone who hasn’t got a clue what’s going on. They make eye contact for a short moment, and he smiles. His smile is calming in some way, making Rose relax.

The moment is over, however, when Clara walks up to her and thrusts a steaming cup of chocolate into her hands. Rose starts protesting, saying she doesn’t want any, but Clara ignores the protest. Rose stares into the soft brown content of the mug, taking a small sip. It’s actually pretty tasty.

Clara walks over to the center of the room, silently counting everyone there. Once she’s satisfied she smiles, clearing her throat.  
“Hello, everyone, and welcome. I am, as you might already know, Clara Oswald. I am twenty-one years old and I am, as you might have guessed by now, peculiar. I’m what we peculiars call an ymbryne, a kind of shape shifter who can turn into a bird. I created this place as a way to give young peculiars the oppertunity to grow and learn about their gifts, the one thing I never had. First thing first: who of you are aware of your peculiarity and what you can do? Don’t worry, no shame in here!”

There’s nothing but silence, then a few people begins raising their hands. Then some more, until everyone in the room’s got their hands in the air. Clara smiles, pleased with what she’s seeing.

“Well, that’ll make my job easier!” she laughs.  
No one seems to share her amusement, so her laugh dies away pretty quickly. She lets her eyes roam over the peculiars in front of her. A few of them are much younger than she thought, but that can’t really be much of a problem. She’s had this dream a pretty long time now, a school for peculiars where they’ll learn everything she didn’t. It’s not like she’s gonna let many things get in the way when she’s finally achived it. There’s only one thing she can think of that might make her job a little harder: they all seem so nervous, so scared to be there and to say anything at all. But, then again, they have lived all of their life hiding their abilities from the world and fearing anyone who might ask them about it. She can’t blame them, that’s how they were raised. Just like herself…

A movement in the corner of Clara’s field of vision catches her attention, and she turns her head to see what it is. One of the younger ones, a blonde girl about twelve who’s sitting on the floor, has still got her hand on the air is now waving it back and forth. At first Clara wonders what’s going on, but then she realizes the girl must have a question. It’s funny: when they were all silent she was nervous and hoped one of them would say something, but now one of them’s got a question and the anxiety hasn’t dropped at all. If anything, it’s gotten a little worse. What if she won’t be able to answer the question?

“Yes...Jenny?” she asks while pointing at the young blonde.  
The girl nods to confirm her name’s in fact Jenny, and Clara is reliefed that she was able to remember her name. Jenny takes her hand down, clearing her throat a little.  
“I was just wondering, how can you not know what your peculiarity is if you know you are peculiar?”  
“A good question, that one. The thing is, I just sent the letters to a bunch of random peculiars, since I would feel awful having to chose. I wasn’t sure if all öf you really knew why you were here, you know”, Clara explains.  
Jenny nods, then continues:  
“Then how can you be sure all of us are peculiar?”

 That question makes Clara smile. It’s a big, self-satisfied smile.  
“That, Jenny, is the beauty of this place. Does any of you know what a perception filter is?”  
It doesn’t seem like they do, since no one raises their hand or says anything.  
“A perception filter is one of the many creations of the peculiars, with the purpose to protect us from normals. Put a perception filter on, say a building, and normals won’t be able to enter. In fact, they won’t even know it’s there. They simply lack the peculiar gene, the thing they need to detect and pass through a perception filter.”  
“And you put one of those filters on the school?” the newest arrival, Rose, guesses.  
“Exactly!” Clara exclaims.

She looks around the room. Almost all of the cups of chocolate are emptied, and the youngest ones are getting restless. The young redhead, Amelia, is bouncing up and down on her spot on the couch, despite her older sister’s attempts to calm her down. They could all use some fresh air, she decides.

“Alright, everyone! I’ve set up dorms for you on the second floor, and I trust you to choose one for yourselfs like civilized people. No fighting and stuff, yeah? Grab your bags in the corner and off you go. We’ll meet in the garden behind the school in about… half an hour.”  
The room is filled with a buzz of several voices as they all put their cups down and hurries over to the corner to be the first one to grab their stuff.  
“Like civilized people!” Clara reminds them, but they are hardly listening as they run up the stairs.

“Kids”, Clara murmurs for herself, smiling.  
  


***

  
A little over half an hour later, Rose finds herself following the others out through the back door. She found a dorm at the end of the corridor and simply dumped her suitcase there without unpacking. There was simply too much going on in her head at the moment to allow her to focus on anything else. She’s nervous, of course she is. She’s not stupid or anything, she knows exactly what’s going to happen: Clara is going to ask them all to show her what they can do. But, for Rose, showing her peculiarity is like asking for death. Okay, maybe not death, but the thought still scares her.

The garden is a huge, bright green lawn, dominated by a large apple tree in the middle. The grass is covered in flowers of all the rainbow’s colors. It really is as beautiful here as the invitation letter said.

“Alright everyone, form a circle around me!” Clara yells, clapping her hands together.  
They quickly get to work, forming a pretty small circle around their teacher. Clara lets her eyes roam over each and every one of them, before stopping on the boy with the gravity-defying hair. His grin turns into a serious expression as she looks right at him.

“I was thinking we were gonna do a presentation round, since I’m rubbish at remembering names. And, you might want to go first”, she tells him.  
Probably cause he’s looked so damn calm during this entire thing, Rose thinks. The boy nods.  
“Sure thing! What do I do?”  
“Just say who you are, name and peculiarity. And… One thing you like”, Clara informs him.

“Hellu everyone. I’m the Doctor - before you ask, that is a name - and my peculiarity is my ability to heal people using this golden light thingy. One thing I like… Stories, I like stories.”  
Clara nods, pausing before moving on to the person next to him. She opens her mouth, probably to ask the same question, when a small voice interrupts her.

“You can’t be called the Doctor.”  
The Doctor turns his head to look at little Amelia. This is the first time he’s heard her speak.  
“And why not, sweetheart?” he questions softly.  
“Because, it’s not a name!” she giggles, earning a glare from Clara.  
“Now now Amelia, we don’t laugh at anyone here”, Clara tells her.  
“Sorry, miss Oswald”, Amelia whimpers, lowering her eyes to the ground.  
“It’s fine, but please call me Clara”, Clara sighs.

She moves on, turning to the person next to the Doctor. It’s the young blonde, only a little older than Amelia. Her blue eyes meets Clara’s brown ones. She lifts her hand in a small wave.  
“Yes, hello. My name’s Jenny, I can lift stuff way heavier than myself and I like to draw. And sleep. Draw and sleep.”  
A few giggle’s heard from various parts of the small circle. Jenny looks around, a proud little smile on her lips.  
“There’s nothing wrong with that, I like to sleep as well”, Clara assures her.  
Not that she seems to need much assurence,

The next one in line is a boy. From what Rose can see he’s the human version of confidence. His dark hair is neatly styled and once he realizes it’s his turn he makes an half-hearted attempt at making it look even better. When he speaks, he does so with a voice with no fear and full of charm.  
“Jack Harkness, at your favor. I’m part invisible, which is kind of awesome. Though-”  
“How can you be part invisible?” Jenny questions, crossing her arms over her chest.  
A lot of attitude for such an innocent look, Rose thinks for herself. Jack doesn’t seem to have any trouble with his newly found attention. Actually, he seems to like it.

“I’ll tell you how”, he tells her softly.  
He kicks off his shoes. At first Rose doesn’t notice anything odd about him, but then it hits her: he doesn’t have any feet. His legs simply ends where his jeans does. Though, he must have feet. He’s standing on them right now, and they all saw him walking around perfectly fine. Though they aren’t there…

“They’re invisable”, Rose finds herself whispering.  
Jack makes eye contact with her, and she thinks he’s winking at her. That makes her feel wierd.  
“Correct, they are. When I was a little kid I was just like any boy, but then I started fading away. Don’t worry, not as bad as it sounds! First my toes, than my feet and now this is where I’m at.”  
He holds his arms out, like he’s somehow displaying himself for everyone to see. That makes Rose sick. A peculiarity isn’t something one should show off like it’s a freak show and you’re the freak, one should protect their peculiarity and only use it if it’s absolutely necessary. That’s what Jackie always said. Being able to float like a baloon is something that never got necessary, and Rose has spent her life weighed down by the metal shoes Jackie had made for her a while back. Before the shoes, she simply had to sit tied down to a chair. She did question it ones or twice, but eventually she understood that Jackie was only keeping her from getting hurt.

Clara walks a little closer to Jack, her eyes fixing on his very non-visable feet.  
“I’ve met a few invisables in my life, and no one ever took their situation as well as you are taking it. I’m impressed, Jack”, she says with a smile.  
Jack lights up like the sun.  
“Thank you, m’am. I just stay positive, you know. Taking every day for what it is. Believe it or not, but being invisable has its perks. For example, you can steal cookies and your parents won’t ever notice it.”  
“Cool!” Jenny and Amelia exclaims in union.  
Clara can’t help but laugh at that, though it’s obvious she’s fighting it. Once the two youngest has calmed down she directs her attention to the girl with the honey-colored curls, the one Rose has been looking at wondering exactly how much hair spray it takes to keep that in style. But then again, the Doctor’s hair’s got its own gravity field. She kind of wonders what it would feel like running her fingers through it. It looks so soft, so-

“And I like that feeling you get when you wake up in the middle of the night and realize you have several hours left to sleep”, Jack adds, interrupting her train of thought.

Turns out the one with the honey-colored hair is named River. When asked about her peculiarity she happily demostrates by making a small stone lift from the ground.  
“You’re telekinetic”, Clara whispers, almost like she’s in awe.  
“What does that mean?” Rose wonders out loud.  
“It’s the ability to control things with your mind”, River explains, letting the tiny stone return to where she found it.  
Rose has to admit that it is pretty cool.

Next it’s the redheaded girl a few years older than Rose. She seems to have picked up on River’s idea of demostration, intruducing herself as Amy Pond while making a flame of very real fire appear in her palm. It is really Amelia’s turn next, but she looks so shy where she’s clinging to Amy’s leg that Clara decides to skip her for now. Instead she turns to a dark-skinned girl about Rose’s age, her black hair flowing a little in the wind.  
“Um, hi there. I’m Martha Jones, and I was born with the ability to heal minor wounds and cuts. This is gonna sound really cliché, but I like to help people. I’ve wanted to be a doctor for most part of my life, but there’s no way I could do that since my ability would be found out sooner or later.

Martha lowers her head in sadness, and the others silently lets her know how sorry they are. Rose knows everything about not being able to do something you want: she had to be pulled from the gymnastics class, one of her favorite things, because she took of her shoes for something and ended up floating all the way up to the ceiling. The teacher fainted and the other kids started screaming in panic. Like there was a demon in the room. Jackie ended up taking her daughter entirely out of school and started home schooling her.

Clara turns to Amelia again. She takes a step forward, letting go of her sister’s leg. The poor thing’s almost shaking as she looks up at all the faces observing her. Amy gets down on her knees, rubbing her back.  
“It’s okay”, she tells her.  
Amelia nods, but she doesn’t seem convinced.  
“Hi everyone, I’m Amelia Pond”, she says, doing her best to sound braver than she’s looking.  
Rose does her part in making her feel better by offering her a smile. Amelia smiles back, turns around, brushes her hair over one of her thin shoulders, and opens a mouth located in the back of her neck.

Several sharp fangs seems to stare back at Rose from that extra mouth. She can’t help but thinking of something from a horror movie. Something very unpleasant. Someone gasps. Amelia whimpers, pushes her hair back in place so its covering the back mouth and hides her face in Amy’s shirt, her shoulder’s shaking. She’s crying. The scene is painfull to watch, in some way. And, sadly, it’s a perfect demostration of today’s society.

Amy takes her younger sister into her arms, carrying her back into the house while whispering words of love and comfort. Then suddenly, it’s Rose’s turn. She’s the only one in the circle who hasn’t intruduced herself, and now everyone’s looking at her. Expecting her to say something. To talk about herself. She’s not a very intresting person, really. Her peculiarity isn’t intresting either, really, It’s not nearly as cool as what Amy or River can do.

“Rose?” Clara asks, bringing her attention back to the others.  
“Oh, yes. I’m Rose. Obviously. And, if I would take off these shoes, I would float up into space.”  
No one says anything. They all seem to take it as a joke at first, but they soon realize it is a very serious thing. Rose clears her throat.  
“I’m not gonna demostrate anything. Again, obviously. If I did I wouldn’t get down again, you know.”

The supposed-to-be-joke only turns out sad, and Rose almost regrets making it. Clara looks like she wants to say something but she simpy waves her hand urging Rose to explain further. The blonde in question clears her throat for the second time in the last minute, clasping her hands together behind her back to give them something to do.  
“What I mean is, I don’t weigh anything. My mum had these special shoes made for me. They are heavier than regular shoes, keeps me from floating off”, she explains.  
“What you are saying is, you are like a baloon?” Jenny asks, rising her hand a little before speaking.  
Clara shakes her head, sighing.

“Look, all of you… Listen to me for a minute, okay? Just… Listen to this: Within this place, this island, no one is ashamed of who they are. Got it? I don’t want anyone here believing that what makes them unique is also what makes them wierd or even scary. Do you understand? I hope all of you learned something from what just happened: a little girl, not more than seven years, broke down. Why? Because she simply assumed that the people around her, you guys, thought horribly of her. My number one priority here will without doubt be to make every single one of you realize how amazing you are. Every single one. Now will you please excuse me? I’ve got a student to look after.”  
Once her little speech is finished Clara turns around, walking back into the building.

  
***

  
Dinner is unpleasantly quiet, Clara being the only one talking. She’s going on about the history of this island and all the great peculiars that once lived here. The only responses she gets are nods and half-hearted mumbles from the others. No one is really paying attention to her, everyone too lost in their own thoughts.

Amelia is the only one who hasn’t touched the food on her plate, and Amy’s getting worried. Not that she constantly worries about her beloved sister, cause she does, but now she is extra worried. She has to remind herself that Amelia is tough despite her young age, and can handle more than you’d think. When their father found out about Amy’s peculiarity and beat her up, Amelia was the one to save her. She started biting him, and kept doing so until his body was full of bleeding wounds. None of the sisters minded that though, they never liked him.

The redhead stares at the piece of meat on her fork before taking it into her mouth, swallowing it down.


	3. A lesson in anatomy

Rose is laying on her stomach on her bed in her dorm, a blank paper on the pillow. The position leaves her torso levitating several inches over the mattress, so even if she had something to write it would be a huge struggle to do so. She silently curses anything peculiar that’s ever existed while reaching down to grab the headboard. Pulling herself down she maneges to get back into sitting position, her legs dangling over the edge of the bed and her shoes preventing her from floating up by once again being at the lowest point of her body.

She ends up sitting by the small desk, a pen in hand and the paper once again in front of her. Rotating the pen between her thumb and forefinger a few times she lets out a deep breath, lowering it to the paper.

It’s not great or anything, but she at least maneges to fill half of the paper with words. Most of the words are descriptions: descriptions of her room, descriptions of the dining room, descriptions of the garden behind the building. There are so many thoughts spinning around in her head she’s having a hard time writing them down, so the finished letter contains a minimal share of her personal emotions.

There’s only one mailbox on the entire island: a rusty, drably thing located not too far from the beach. Rose doubts anyone ever picks up the mail out here since they are more or less in the middle of nowhere. Once the letter is folded and placed into an envelope she exits her dorm, making her way down the corridor.

She finds Clara in the main sitting area on the first floor, reading an old and dusty book. The ymbryne looks up once she notices the blonde’s presence, offering her a smile.  
“Good evening, Rose. How may I help you?” she asks sweetly.  
“You see, the thing is, I’ve got a letter I would want to post, and I heard something about a mailbox”, Rose explains nervously, waving the envelope in front of her as if to prove her attentions.  
Clara nods.  
“There is one mailbox here, down by the beach. Shouldn’t be too difficult to find it, though I do recommend that you don’t go there alone.”  
“But-”, Rose starts to protest, but Clara silences her by holding a finger into the air.  
“No buts now, it’s all for your safety. I am sure you would manege it yourself without any problem, but at the same time I don’t want to take any risks.”  
“It’s because I’m a girl, isn’t it?”  
“What?”

Clara’s eyes widen is disbelief as she stares at Rose, who’s arms are now crossed over her chest. Rose clears her throat.  
“You don’t think I can manege it by myself because I’m a girl, don’t you?”  
Clara shakes her head.  
“No! I never said that! I care about your safety, that’s all! I won’t force you to take someone with you, I’m just saying-”  
“I could go with you, I was going for a little walk anyway.”

Both girls turns to face the sorce of the voice which just joined the conversation. It’s the Doctor (or Great Hair as Rose has named him, since Doctor is just a title). He walks over to them, his hands shoved down his suit pockets. Rose wants to protest again, but it dies in her throat as he gives her a smile. A smile so bright it could light up the entire night sky if someone made it into a star. Not that that would be possible, of course not.  
“That does sound like a good idea”, Clara agrees.  
Great Hair beams at that, and Rose hasn’t got a chance to say no before he’s grabbing her hand and gently tugging her towards the massive front door, her metal shoes scraping across the wodden floor.

  
***

  
“You really are like a baloon, aren’t you?”

Great Hair is walking a few steps in front of Rose, making it appear like he knows exactly where they are going. The blonde stops walking at the question, an annoyed noise escaping her lips.  
“What? What is that supposed to mean?”  
Great Hair simply shrugs, shaking his head a little. She grabs his coat sleeve, preventing him from walking any further.

“Oi!” he yelps, jerking his arm back and glaring at her.  
“I asked you a question”, she states.  
“I don’t know, it just slipped out. That was my first thought. I mean, think about it: you weigh nothing, like a baloon, and you need something to hold you down, like a bal-”  
“So you decided to compare me to a sack of gas, did you?”  
“Oi, you didn’t yell at Jenny!” he tells her, his hands raised in defense.  
Rose rolls her eyes.  
“When a little girl compares your peculiarity to an inhuman object, it’s cute and harmless. When a grown man does it, who by the way happens to be peculiar himself, it’s offensive. And, to be honest, a bit creepy.”

She starts walking again, the envelope pressed up against her chest so it won’t blow away as the winds get stronger. Great Hair follows, hurrying to catch up with her quick pace.  
“Rose? I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I was just trying to understand you better, that’s all”, he tells her.  
“By comparing me to a baloon?”  
“Yes! Well, no. I mean, I did, but not like that. Not in a bad way, in a good way. Cause being unique is something you should be proud of. Clara said so, rem-?”  
“Just stop talking”, she tells him with a sigh.  
He does.

They walk the rest of the way in silence. It’s not long until they find the mailbox, standing lonely in the sand. Wanting to leave this man’s side as fast as possible, Rose runs over to it and shoves the envelope down the gap.  
“What has that poor letter ever done to you?” Great Hair asks, obviously trying to lighten the very tense mood.  
Rose chooses not to respond to that, instead she starts walking in the same direction from which they arrived. Now he seems to accept that she isn’t gonna talk to him again and follows behind her like a nice little puppy.

“Why do you call yourself the Doctor?” Rose asks finally, not able to hold in the question any longer.  
He stops walking, and she turns around to check what’s going on. He suddenly looks down at his foot, kicking a tiny stone to the side.  
“That’s not what I call myself, it is my name. Or, stage name. No one’s ever called me by anything else, and I don’t know anything else.”  
“Stage name?” she wonders out loud, but he never replies.  
She decides not to ask more about it, since her gut tells her it’s a sensetive subject and Jackie always told her to trust her gut.

When they arrive back to the school the Doctor makes a move to open the front door for her, but Rose stands in front of him, blocking his way.  
“What do you think you are doing?” he asks.  
“Don’t worry, I will let you in. If you promise never to make fun of me or my weightlessness again. Do we have a deal?”  
“I want to point out that I never made fun of any of that-”  
“Do we have a deal?” she repeats, struggling to keep the demanding voice despite the giggle that’s slowly taking over.  
“Yes, yes, we have a deal”, he assures her.  
“Great!” she annunces, moving out of the way so he can hold the door for her.

“I might have a awful sense of humor, but I’m still a gentleman”, he tells her once they are inside.  
He gets a playful slap to his shoulder for that.

  
***

  
Despite the size of the school building, there’s only one actual classroom. It’s located at the end of the corridor, the huge window offering a truly stunning view of the garden. If it hasn’t been for the window casting a golden light over all the seats, Rose is sure she would’ve gotten school flashbacks: wodden floor, wodden chairs, wodden desks. There’s even a proper blackboard on the wall and a piece of white chalk is placed on a small table in the front of the room.

After consulting Clara about her problem with laying in bed without at least half of her body floating up towards the ceiling, Rose was instructed how to tie a thick leather strap around the bed and herself. The idea didn’t seem so bad, and the blonde tried it. It worked, and she got a good night’s sleep. In other words, exactly what she needed after a day full of new experiences and thoughts. She did wake up once and discovered her legs were standing straight up from the mattras, but that wasn’t such a big problem. She fell asleep not long after that, once she had wrapped her mind around where she was and why she wasn’t home.

“Okay kids, take a seat!” Clara says happily, walking up to the blackboard and holding her arms out.  
Rose wants to point out that she isn’t a kid anymore, but decides against it. She chooses a desk in the front row, pulling back the chair and sitting down. Folding her hands in her lap she leans forward, getting a sudden not-so-great flashback of all those math lessons.

There are more then enough seats, and several chairs are left empty even once everyone’s found somewhere to sit. Clara then turns to Amelia, the young redhead giving a tiny nod as to confirm something. Clara turns to the board, writing a word with the chalk.

_Backmouth_

She spins around to face everyone looking at her, clearing her throat.  
“A backmouth is, as you might be able to guess by the name, a mouth that’s located in the back of the head. This is a pretty common peculiarity, and I’ve seen many like Amelia before. I have come across a line of missunderstandings when it comes to us peculiars, and a common one is that someone blessed with a backmouth is violent and a… a savage, if you will. I mean, they are capable of biting you pretty hard, but that’s usually only something to worry about if you piss them of.”  
That last part makes Amelia smile a little. Clara erases the word with a piece of damp paper, and begins to draw something else. She moves aside so they can all see what it is, but it still makes no sense. She seems to understand that, clearing her throat before explaining:

“If you take a person with just one mouth, their esophagus and their vocal cords are connected to the same place. That being their mouth, obviously. But, if you take someone with a backmouth, their esophagus and vocal cords are connected to one mouth each. In other words: they talk with the mouth in the front of their head, and eats with the one in the back.”  
While she’s talking she points to the different parts of her drawing, and Rose realizes it’s the throat of someone with a backmouth, seen from the inside. Or, throats. Clara explains how all the different parts are joined together, but she isn’t really paying attention to all of it. She is busy enough with looking at Amelia: the little girl is leaned forward with her elbows on the desk and her chin resting in her hands. Her legs dangles back and forth above the floor as she listens to Clara, a kind of awe in her eyes. It hits Rose that Amelia’s never had anyone explain to her how her body works or why she is like this.

“Amelia, is there something you’d like to tell everyone?”  
Amelia jumps a bit as Clara adresses her, looking around. All eyes are on her, everyone is the room is watching her to see what she’s going to do.  
“Okay”, she says finally, standing up from her chair.  
She walks over to the front of the small classroom, clasping her hands in front of her.

“I just wanna say that you shouldn’t judge anyone. You don’t know them, and that is not okay. The world would be a better place of everyone would just accept each other as they are.”  
Little Amelia’s words goes right into Rose’s heart. It’s something so very simple, yet there are so many who doesn’t seem to understand it. Clara thanks Amelia, and Amelia glows like a sun as she walks back to her seat.

Clara erases the drawing on the board with the same damp paper. She stands there for a moment, looking at all her students, before smiling.  
“Okay then, out and play you”, she tells them with a smile.  
The two youngest, Jenny and Amelia, are very quick to leave their seats and run out the room.

  
***

  
“Let’s play tag!”

It’s originaly Jenny’s idea, though Amelia soon joins the blonde in trying to convince the rest. The two seems to feed off each other’s excitement: when one bounces up in expectation, so does the other. It’s actually really adorable to watch, and it makes Rose smile.

She’s sitting in the grass, her back against a tree. Picking a few green straws from the ground she starts pulling them apart between her fingers, humming a song she doesn’t know the origin of. She closes her eyes for a moment, her hair flowing in the soft wind.

She yelps at the feeling of another body dropping to the ground right next to her. The Doctor grins at her, getting comfortable and leaning his weigh back against the tree. The blonde wraps her arms around her knees, as a way of showing him she isn’t intrested in any conversation right now.

Not that the Doctor seems to care very much about that.  
“Aren’t you gonna play tag?” he asks her.  
“Aren’t you?”  
He smiles, shaking his head.  
“I asked you first.”  
“No way! Does it look like I’ll be able to run in these shoes?”  
“Well, you could always take them off”, he suggests, like it’s the obvious answer.  
“You don’t make any sense”, Rose informs him.  
“Why’s that?” he asks, pouting.    
Rose shakes her head in respons.  
“What?” he exclaims.  
Rose sighs.  
“In case the information escaped your mind: if I would take off these shoes, I would float up and I would continue to do so and then I would probably die from lack of oxygen or something like that!”

She stands up, brushing the grass from her jeans. The Doctor grins at her from the ground where he’s still sitting, like he knows something she doesn’t.  
“What?” she questions.  
“Nothing, I just find you a facinating human being.”  
She snorts.  
“And why do you do that?”  
“Because, if you are just as light as you say you are, there wouldn’t be need for much to keep you from flying off”, he explains, like he’s really proud about what he just discovered.  
“And what would you recommend, then?”  
“Well, for example, a rope. Tying one end around your body, and then-”  
“Your solution is to tie me up? Lovely!” she exclaims, voice dripping with sarcasm as she throws her arms into the air.  
“I wasn’t finished!” he protests, but she doesn’t seem to be listening.

Her attention is currently directed at Jenny. The girl in question runs over to Rose, her face practically glowing.  
“Rose! Come and play!”  
Rose looks down at her, smiling and wondering why someone could be that intrested in her. She thinks about how she’s gonna tell her no without hurting her feelings, when little Jenny wraps her small arms around her legs and picks her up from the ground. It should be impossible, especially considering the added weight of her shoes. But it isn’t. Not to Jenny, anyway. Rose guesses she really wasn’t joking when she said she could lift things way heavier than herself. Including people, apparently.

“Now now, Jenny. Put the poor girl down.”  
At the sound of Clara’s voice Jenny does as she’s told, putting Rose’s feet back down on the ground. The brunette’s got her hands clasped behind her back, smiling like the sight in front of her amuses her. Maybe it does.

Rose regains her balance, turning to Clara. The scene behind her is close to total chaos: Martha, River, Jack, Amelia and Amy are all running around chasing each other, shouting silly made-up insults. It’s really entertaining to watch, and Rose finds herself quietly observing them as they play. Eventually Amelia seems to get tired, so she silently excuses herself to go over and join the group of four by the side. She walks right to the Doctor, who’s still sitting by the same tree. He seems to perk up at the little redhead’s presence, smiling at her.

“Hello there, Amelia”, he greets her.  
“Why are you sitting here?” she wonders, her eyes big and curious.  
“What? Isn’t a man allowed to rest his legs?”  
She seems to think about his answer for a moment before accepting it, nodding and running over to Clara.

“Miss Oswald-”, she begins, but Clara silences her by holding a finger in front of her.  
“My name is Clara, okay? We’re all on first name basis here, you know”, the brunette explains.  
Amelia nods at that.  
“Okay. Clara, could we maybe get to see you turn into a bird sometime?” she asks, honestly sounding really excited about that thought.  
Jenny obviously heard that question, and now all her focus is on Clara. Clara lets out a long breath through her nose, placing on hand on Amelia’s shoulder.  
“Pleeeeaaaseee?” Amelia whines, clasping her hands together and making her eyes extra big and sad.  
Clara sighs.  
“Amelia, we ymbrynes don’t do that very often.”  
“Why?”

Now it’s Jenny’s time to ask the question. She’s now standing next to Amelia, her blue eyes also big and sad. Clara is pretty unhappy to have upset both of them like that, and her brain quickly searches for something that would distract them. Young ones doesn’t have a very wide attention spam, after all.

“Because, if I was a bird all day, I wouldn’t be able to play with you guys”, she explains gently.  
The girls nods at that, sharing one look before running off. Clara is quick to chase after them, and all three breaks into a fit of laughter.


	4. Peculiar dinner conversations

Fortunately, today’s lunch isn’t nearly as quiet as yesterday’s dinner was. They all soon discover that Amelia doesn’t need to pause her questions and/or remarks to chew, since she’s got one mouth for each task. Honestly, the problem here is getting her to shut up for a second.

“I’ve got a question”, she annunces while bringing the chicken leg to the back of her neck, her other hand holding her hair out of the way as she takes a big bite from it.  
“That is great, but this is like your twentieth question in the last minute”, Amy informs her little sister, earning a glare from the small redhead.  
Clara, on the other hand, dismisses Amy’s comment with a small wave and sends a smile in Amelia’s direction.  
“Oh no, there’s no problem at all. Go on, ask your question”, the brunette assures her.  
Amelia puts the chicken leg back down on her plate, clearing her throat as if what she’s about to ask is something very important.

“If there’s no coal here, why is this place called Coal Hill?” she asks, being very carefull with moving her hair to the side so she won’t spill anything in it as she takes a sip from her glass of water.  
There’s agreeing murmurs from all around the oblong table. Clearly that’s something the others has been wondering about as well. Clara makes a little noise of realizetion, nodding.  
“I took quite some time trying to figure out something to call the school. Then I thought about one of my first jobs - I was a teacher back then too - in a small secondary school called Coal Hill. So, I decided I would just go with that”, she explains.

“But, isn’t that, like, copying? Or stealing?” Jenny asks.  
She’s not joking the slightest. she’s genuinely intrested. Without warning River breaks out in a fit of laughter, leaving everyone at the table staring at her. Including Clara. She recovers quickly though, her loud laugh fading out into giggles before going completely quiet. She dries the laugh-tears with a discreet sweep of her napkin, shaking her head a little.  
“Sorry, I just… related a bit to that”, she tells them quietly, going back to her food.  
“How?” Jenny wonders.  
You can actually see the horror flash through River’s eyes as she realizes she won’t be able to get out of this without an explaination. She decides she won’t make it a bigger deal than it already is, laying her cutlery down next to her half-empty plate. Better to get it over with as soon as possible.

“Alright then. My father is an archeologist, has been for quite a while. I was very facinated by his work when I was a kid, still am actually. I can remember asking him something similar to that after he told me about what he does.”  
“Well, is it?” Jack asks, it now being his turn to ask questions.  
“What?”  
“Is archeology stealing?”  
River laughs at that.  
“I’ve never got an answer out of him, but I don’t think so. I mean, they are doing it for scientific causes.”  
“Long ago, grave robbers were punished by death”, Amelia points out matter-of-factly.  
“Yeah, but River isn’t a grave robber”, Amy whispers.  
“How would you know?” Amelia hisses out, making everyone else laugh.

“I can assure you, I am not a criminal, and neither is my dad”, River tells the little girl patiently.  
“That is _exactly_ what a criminal would say!” Jenny exclaims, joining Amelia’s side.  
Clara smiles, shaking her head.  
“Look, girls, no one here is doing anything illigal. Now eat your food”, she tells them.  
“Are you my mummy?” Amelia asks.

Amy snaps.  
“Amelia Destiny Pond! That is not the way you speak to an adult, even less your teacher! Now apologize, and then eat and be quiet!”  
Instead of doing as requested, Amelia gets up from her seat and leaves the room, her backmouth actually growling at her older sister as she hurries away.

A fog of tension fills the room after the dining room doors has slammed shut behind Amelia. Every face turns to stare at Amy, the girl in question looking around anxiously.  
“You don’t think you went a little too far there?” Martha asks, looking over at the doors.  
“Nah, I don’t know. She needs to learn to behave and stuff. Respect people, you know.”  
“But she did nothing wrong!” Jenny insists.  
She makes a move to leave her seat, but Clara stops her with a gentle hand on her arm.  
“Jenny, I don’t think this is anything you need to worry about. Just finish your dinner, alright?”  
The blonde nods, sitting back down. Martha still seems a bit tense, which Amy doesn’t fail to notice.

“You got a sister as well?” she guesses.  
“Yeah. Not a peculiar one, though.”  
“Lucky you. When Amelia was younger she used to bite me everytime she didn’t get her will through. Not that every kid’s done that at some point, but you know… She’s got fangs. Hurts like hell.”

Martha can’t think of something to reply to that, so she returns her attention to her food. There’s silence once again. Everyone spends a minute looking at each other, hoping the other will break the ice. Rose decides to take that in her own hands, inhaling and opening her mouth to speak.  
“I was thinking about going down to the beach later, just take a little walk.”  
The Doctor perks up at that, her words catching his attention. He quickly makes eye contact with her, which she tries her best to ignore.

Clara claps her hands together.  
“I think we could all use some fresh air! I suggest a mutual such.”  
Rose can’t say she really agrees with that, she had been thinking of taking this walk all by herself to clear her thoughts. It seems to be too late for that though: Clara’s suggestion seems to be appreciateted. She sighs, leaning back in her chair.

When they are all done eating and the oldest ones runs off to help with the dishes, Jenny finds the opportunity to sneak up the stairs.

  
***

  
“Amelia?”

Amelia presses her face deeper into her pillow, wanting to shut Amy’s voice out. Then it hits her: this can’t be Amy, the voice sounds far too young. And the accent isn’t even Scottish. Curiosity takes over, and she leans up on one of her arms to look at whoever’s spoken to her. It turns out to be Jenny, the blonde peering at her from the doorway to her room.

“A-are you okay?” she asks.  
When she never gets a reply she enters the room further, walking over to the bed.  
“I am here to cheer you up!” she annunces happily.  
Amelia seems a little confused at that.  
“How?” she wonders.  
“With my peculiarity, of course”, Jenny states proudly, looking around the room.

It doesn’t take very long for her to find an object of the right size: an old wodden chest in one of the corners, possibly containing clothes. It’s nearly bigger than Jenny herself. Perfect!

She walks over to the chest, rubbing her hands together. She makes sure Amelia is watching her before she grabs it and picks it up. Amelia’s eyes widen in wonder.

“Wow!” she exclaims in awe, jumping down from her bed.  
Jenny has now switched to holding the chest with only one hand, the huge wodden object balansing on top of her palm. It casts a long shadow over her. Amelia slowly walks closer.

“That isn’t heavy at _all_?” she asks the older.  
“Nope!”  
“But what if you dropped it on your toe?”  
“Then it wouldn’t be very nice”, Jenny giggles.  
Amelia joins in on her giggles, moving over to stand under the huge shadow. They look at each other, giggling at the situation.

Jenny eventually puts the chest back where it belongs, sitting down on the edge of Amelia’s bed. She starts pulling at the blonde strands in one of her pigtails to occupy her fingers with something.  
“We are going for a walk”, she tells the younger.  
Amelia blinks at her, not completely understanding.  
“We?”  
“Everyone. Clara annunced it after you left.”  
“Why?”  
Jenny shrugs. Amelia seems to accept that as an answer, nodding. She walks over to the window, pushes the dark curtain out of the way and peers out. Everyone’s already gathered in front of the house, probably waiting for her. And Jenny.

  
***

  
Rose kicks the small stone back and forth between her feet, waiting for something to happen. She’s always been that kind who gets bored really quick, who always needs something to do.

It’s a beautiful day, the only problem being the pretty strong winds. She isn’t complaining or anything, she’s not that suprised since they aren’t very far from the sea. Sadly, she’s having kind of a hard time keeping her balance when the worst winds passes. Her shoes might help her with staying on the ground, but that’s about it. She’s currently busy counting the times the stone has rolled from one foot to the other, so she isn’t really paying attention to how the wind is tugging her body in one direction.

When she’s reached twenty rolls of the stone, a movement catches her attention. Jenny and Amelia are running down the stairs of the porch side by side, grinning like they both knows something the others don’t. Once everyone’s there Clara takes the lead, clapping her hands to get their attention.

“Alright everyone, lets go!”


	5. A walk on the beach

Clara seems to know this place like her own pocket, which doesn’t suprise Rose at all. The brunette has the lead, the others walking behind her like a line of baby ducks after their mummy. No one says anything. No one’s said anything since they began their walk.

Rose, as usual, is lost in her own thoughts. She’s walking in the back of the line, looking out at the sea. The dark blue surface glitters, thanks to the rays of sunshine shining down. It’s beautiful. This entire place is beautiful. Even the classroom is beautiful, and that says a lot. But, of course, this doesn’t count as an actual school in her eyes. It’s more like a wierd summer camp where they learn stuff. Peculiar stuff.

“Jack Harkness, very nice meeting you.”  
She jumps a little at the sound of a voice that close to her ear. Jack’s eyes meets hers and this time she’s certain that he is actually winking at her. What’s that about? She completely ignores his out-stretched hand.  
“Ï know, we all introduced ourselfs the first day”, she informs him.  
“Yes, but why not get introduced _further_?” he suggests with a raise of a eyebrow.  
Rose shakes her head at him.  
“What are you trying to achive, exactly?” she wonders.  
“Not much, just the attention of a pretty blonde. Why?”  
“Well, this blonde isn’t intrested”, she states simply.  
He pouts, pretending to be hurt. Rose chooses to ignore his acting, leaving his side to join River and Amy.

The two are walking side by side, yet not speaking to one another. They both seem to be busy with looking around the beach, taking everything in. Rose can’t say she doesn’t know the feeling: everything still feels new and a little scary. She figures it’s supposed to be like that in some way: humans are simply scared of the unnknown, always has been and always will be.

A very good example of that is how all the normals see the peculiars. Sure, it used to be even worse. Long ago, peculiar children were forced to live in so-called loops, where time is frozen and they won’t ever age. It does sound like something very horrible and it probably was, but at that time it was best for everyone.

Now, however, normals are more or less aware of the existence of peculiars and most parents doesn’t want to give up their child the second they discover they aren’t like others. Acceptance is a totaly different thing, though. Peculiars are able to walk the streets like anyone, but you need to be prepared to be harassed and get nasty comments. When Rose first got her heavy shoes she was able to hide them from the public by wearing boots several sizes too big over them. Many people did stare at her feet, but no one ever said anything.

As she grew, that plan didn’t work as well. Fortunately, her peculiarity is one of those which you don’t notice if you don’t know about them. A few friends of her age wasn’t as lucky, and they were forced to stay home all day once they couldn’t control their ability anymore. There were actually times when Rose seriously considered just locking herself in her room and simply giving up on the world, but Jackie never allowed that. She just wouldn’t have her daughter refusing to go out simply because of someone else’s opinion on how humans are supposed to be.

She never gives her mum enough credit, Rose realizes. She’s not sure she would have accepted Clara’s invitation letter if it hadn’t been for the way Jackie Tyler insisted. To be completely honest, she thinks she might’ve moved to a tiny cottage in the woods and completely given up on society.

  
***

  
After about five minutes of walking, Clara starts talking again.

“Let’s hear it, how much do you know about the history of peculiars?” she asks her students, turning to walk backwards so she can keep looking at them.  
Rose’s earlier thoughts hits her, and she raises her hand. Clara looks a bit suprised, but pleased.  
“Yes, Rose?”  
“It used to be worse”, the blonde informs her.  
“Very good. In what way?”  
“The… The peculiar children had to live in loops to be protected from the outside world.”

That really suprises Clara. She stops in her tracks, blinking at Rose.  
“Wow, Rose. I’m impressed. There hasn’t been need for loops for a very long time now, I’m suprised you even knows about it. How did you know?”  
“When I was younger my mum got me these old history books from the library to read for me, said she wanted me to know I wasn’t alone in not being like others.”

Clara smiles.  
“Your mother was very wise in doing that. Me if anyone know how it feels when you know you a different but doesn’t know why. I think everyone here has their fair share of that feeling.”  
She’s stopped walking now, directing that last part to the rest of the young peculiars now standing behind Rose. They all gives her a silent nod in union, and then there’s a few minutes of nothing but silence.

Eventually, Clara decides that they’ve all had enough break time to think through her information. She claps her hands together and annunces it’s time to keep moving. They obey, despite some moans of protest, once again forming a line behind their headmistress.

This time Rose is in the front of the line, right behind Clara. She hears River and Amy having a conversation a bit behind her:

“But, like, I have to ask. Do you ever set fire on things on accident?”  
“Not that often, no. What about you, ever thrown a chair at someone after they’ve pissed you off?”  
That causes a chain reaction of laugh through the entire group. Rose spins around, facing the girl responsible for her amusement. She leans forward and puts a hand on her stomach, laugh bubbling out of her mouth.

Once everyone has calmed down at least a bit, Amy looks around confused.  
“What did I say?” she wonders.  
Amelia giggles, walking up to her.  
“Why would she throw a chair at someone?”  
“By accident, of course. She’s telepatic, you kno-”  
“ _Telekinetic_ ”, River corrects the readhead, shaking her head.  
Amelia turns to River.  
“She sat the bedroom courtains on fire once”, she informs her.

Amy gasps.  
“Amelia Pond! What is _wrong_ with you!?”  
Amelia replies with a laugh, taking of running. Amy chases after her, yelling and laughing.

Their walk seems to have come to a break once again, everyone spreading out. Rose finds a flat rock where she lays down on her back, hands under her neck. She stares up at the sky, sighing softly. That is, until she realizes that her back isn’t touching the stone at all. Her upper body is actually hovering a bit over the ground, simply floating there. She curses under her breath, attempting to grab something to hold on to so she can get up.

She can’t find anything though, her hands fumbling blindly in the air above her.  
“You need help?” the Doctor asks softly, standing over her.  
“Yes”, she says between gritted teeth, hating to admit it.  
The brunett nods, reaching down a hand to her. She grabs his wrist with both hands, pulling herself back onto her feet. She brushes a lock of blond hair out of her face and starts walking around, aimlessly. She can’t stand still on the same spot too long, cause then her shoes will start sinking down into the soft sand.

Clara notices her struggles.  
“Why don’t you take them of for a bit? It can’t be comfortable to keep shoes that heavy on for a longer period of time.”  
Rose stares at her, eyes wide.  
“Didn’t you understand why I need them?” she asks the ymbryne, feeling a bit insulted that no one here seems to take her peculiarity seriously.  
“Of course I do, Rose! But it really won’t be a problem: I could hold you down with just my hands on your hips, if you’d like”, she suggests.

Rose thinks about it. It sure would be nice to take a few minutes without her shoes, but at the same time she’s scared: what if Clara loses her grip on her? Or what if she isn’t even strong enough to keep her down. Of course she is, you weigh practically nothing, Rose reminds herself.

“Okay”, she finds herself saying, despite the anxiety.  
Clara smiles, pleased with her decision, placing her hands on Rose’s hips. The blonde takes a deep breath to brace herself, before reaching down and unclasping the shoes’ clasps.

Her feet lifts from the lead soles, and she automatically stretches her feet. It feels kind of nice, honestly.

Then she’s not rising any higher, floating with her now bare feet dangling a few inches over the shoes. She shudders a bit as the wind hits her toes, but she isn’t complaining or anything. It’s a new feeling. A different feeling. She can’t decide if it’s a good or bad feeling though, it’s just different. She looks down at her feet, kicking them back and forth. She looks back up at Clara, who’s holding her still by her hips. Clara smiles.

“Oh”, is all Rose can get out in the current situation, slowly getting used to the feeling.  
“Okay?” Clara wonders, a bit concerned.  
“Sure”, Rose assures her, smiling.

She likes it, Rose decides. It’s an odd yet pleasant feeling of freedom, being so light. She wiggles her toes, smiling at the wierdness of it all. This is nothing like being tied to a chair or even wearing her lead shoes. She’s free, in a way, no matter how cliché it may sound. She allows her eyes to fall shut, just enyoing the feeling of floating freely. Not entirely freely, of course, but still. She gets a sudden urge rise higher, to see this beach looks like from the sky. That would be pretty incredeble. Impossible of course, but still incredeble.

Amelia runs up to them, probably tired of having her older sister chasing her around.  
“You’re _flying_!” she exclaims, staring at Rose with eyes wide with awe.  
The blonde shakes her head.  
“Not really, it’s more like floating”, she tries to explain.  
“What does that mean?” Amelia wonders, leaning her head to the side in confusion.  
“I’m not even completely sure myself, but I think it’s got something to do with the fact that I don’t weigh anything. Like, my body-”  
“Like a baloon?” Jenny asks, walking up behind Amelia.  
Rose groans, rolling her eyes.  
“Look, I’m tired of being compared to a bloody _baloon_! Alright? What’s that about, anyway? Does that mean I should start comparing Amy to an oven or something?”  
“ _Oi_!” Amy yells from somewhere behind her, obviously upset.  
“Exactly!” Rose exclaims, proud to have made her point.  
Jenny takes a few tiny steps forward, her eyes glued to the ground.  
“I’m sorry”, she admits quetly.  
There’s a sudden lump in Rose’s throat. Was that too harsh? Jenny is still a kid, after all.  
“Hey, Jenny. Don’t be sad, yeah? It’s ok-”

Before she can get to the end of her sentence, a really strong wind tugs her out of Clara’s arms and she floats away like a leaf or a plastic bag.

  
***

  
A paniced, pained scream eachoes through the Doctor’s ears, blocking out every other sound. He looks up just in time to see Rose being torn from Clara’s grip by the wind. The blonde fumbles through the air, desperate for something to grab on to.

He starts running. He’s not even thinking, he’s just running. And then he’s jumping, hand reaching up and grabbing Rose’s ankle. The blonde shierks in suprise, his weigh being enough to yank her back down to Earth.

The Doctor wraps his arms around her in a tight embrace, holding her close to his body so she won’t risk flying off again. Once her panic has faded out the intensity of the situation seems to hit her. She lets out a small sob, pressing her face into his neck. The Doctor strokes her back, not knowing what else to do to calm her down. She struggles in his arms for a bit before realizing he doesn’t want her to go anywhere.

No one else seems to know what to do either: Clara quietly tries to tell Rose how sorry she is, but she isn’t sure the blonde can even hear her. In an attempt to at least do something usefull, Jenny picks up the lead shoes from the ground where they have been left, carrying them over to Rose.

“Here.”  
It takes a short moment for Rose’s still traumatized brain to process that the voice is in fact speaking to her. She turns her head, realizing the voice belongs to Jenny. Her blue eyes are sad. She holds the shoes up, offering them to Rose with a sad smile. Rose thanks her with a nod, the Doctor assisting her with a hand on her shoulder to keep her down as she slips them on.

The second Rose has fastened the last clasp on her shoes she starts running, wiping her tear-stained cheek. The others can only stare at the extra deep footprints she leaves behind her in the sand.

  
***

  
Rose goes straight to bed, despite it barely being noon. Getting out of her shoes she straps herself down to the bed, hugging the pillow close. She closes her eyes, forcing the still very vivid memory to fade into the background as she does everything in her power to focus on something else. Anything but the fact that she almost died today. If the Doctor hadn’t been that quick to react she would’ve been lost amog the clouds forever in minutes.

Just thinking that thought makes her panic slightly. She tugs the pillow impossibly closer, a quiet yet powerfull sob shaking her body. She forces herself to take deep breaths, not wanting to have a total breakdown here. Not like this. She rolls over onto her back, focusing her attention on the ceiling fan’s endless spinning. That makes her feel a little better. She does an attempt to dry her eyes, a deep sigh escaping from between her lips.

She finally feels sleep taking over her, bringing her out of reality. She welcomes it with open arms, falling into a peacefull slumber.

  
***

  
Clara holds the front door open, allowing the young peculiars to walk past her and into the hallway. Once they are all inside she follows behind them, closing and locking the door behind her. They’re all unusually quiet, the previous events probably still in their minds.

She walks over to one of the larger windows in the sitting room, leaning her elbows on the windowsill and looking out. It’s still really sunny outside, a beautiful day. Clara smiles, pleased with the location she choose for this school. She choose this island especially for two main reasons: there’s no normals here so they have it for themselfs, and the weather here is almost always sunny. It’s the kind of place you would be happy in, and that’s all she ever wants for her students. Normals or peculiars.

She lets out a shaking breath as the realization finally hits her with full power: she almost lost a student today. If Rose never had agreed to take her shoes off - or even better, if Clara never had suggested it - that never would’ve happened. The blonde never would’ve been caught up in the wind and flown away.

She almost had to tell a student’s parents that their daughter wasn’t coming home again. Ever. She almost had to look them in the eye and tell them that she is responsible for that. For their daughter’s death.

She hides her face in her hands, her breath now ragged. She closes her eyes in an failed attempt to press back the tears. The only thing preventing her from having a full-blown panic attack is the voice from behind her.

“Will you read to me?”  
Clara turns around, half expecting to find Amelia holding some children’s book. It’s actually Jenny, and she’s holding the complete version of _Peculiar Tales_ tightly against her chest. Her arms looks tiny where they are wrapped around the huge (and very heavy) book. She must’ve found it in the library, Clara guesses. They mostly use the complete edition as decoration, since it’s so big and not very easy to move around. She’s got thinner versions with a few stories in each for the actual reading.

Still here Jenny is, with the complete work in her arms. It’s not such a big suprise though, since Jenny is more than strong enough to carry it. The front page is very decorative, black leather covered in colorfull siluettes of birds and trees and flowers. The titel is written in squiggly letters of a beautiful golden shade.

“Can’t someone else read it?” Clara wonders.  
Jenny shakes her head.  
“Nope”, she says simply.  
“Why not?”  
“I want you to read”, Jenny explains simply.  
Clara sighs, not understanding why she have to nor feeling like reading to her. She shouldn’t have. Jenny takes a few steps forward, her blue eyes going big and pleading.

There’s a guilt somewhere deep inside Clara. It might have something to do with the incident on the beach, might not. Still, she feels kind of bad. Little Jenny is still looking at her with those blue puppy eyes of hers, and suddenly she can’t deny the girl anymore.  
“Alright then”, she sighs, giving in.

Jenny’s face completely lights up. Clara follows her into the sitting room, where she’s already found a spot at the end of one of the couches where she sits down. Clara takes the seat next to her and she hands her the book. She’s having trouble with it laying in her lap without it getting uncomfortable under the weigh, but she decides to look happy and don’t complain. Jenny’s already chosen a story for her to read, and she clears her throat before beginning:

“Once upon a peculiar time...”


	6. Handeling emotions and getting closer

Rose didn’t realize she fell asleep until she’s woken up by somebody’s knocking on her bedroom door. She cracks one eye open, adjusting to the room’s brightness in a short moment.

There’s another knock.  
“What!?” she groans.  
The door opens a few inches, a intense pair of brown eyes peering at her.  
“Doctor?” she questions in disbelief.  
“Yup!”  
“What are you even doing here?” she yawns, rubbing her eyes.  
“I thought I’d cheer you up. Or, at least try to…”  
“How?”

Instead of replying he opens the door completely, waving a mug of what seems to be tea in front of his face.  
“I really hope it’s a flavor you like, I had to look Amy in the eye and ask her to heat it for me. It was not a very pleasant experience”, he admits.  
That makes her laugh. She’s freed herself from the leather strap holding her on the bed and is now doing an attempt to grab her shoe. She misses, but gets a hold of the mattrass. This results in her doing a one-hand stand on the bed, an despondent sigh escaping her mouth.  
“A little help, maybe?” she asks.

The Doctor is quick to assist her: he puts the cup down on the desk, hurrying over to her and helping her down with his arms around her. She’s soon standing upright again, her bare feet on the floor. Or, a bit above the floor. The Doctor’s got his hands on her shoulder, very gently pushing her down until her feet are in her shoes. She’s about to bend down to secure the clasps, but remembers that she’s still in her nightgown. Her cheek turns a soft pink shade and she looks away for a second, suddenly embarrassed.

The Doctor senses how uncomfortable the situation is making her.  
“You want me to…?” he asks, gesturing at her feet.  
She nods silently, accepting his request. He slowly kneels down in front of her, one hand still on her shoulder. He starts with the left shoe, making sure it won’t fall off before moving on to the right one. He doesn’t know how, but he can actually feel her watching him.

He stands back up when finished, his eyes meeting hers. She’s smiling, a tiny part of her tongue poking out between her teeth. He’s seen her do that several times before, but he’s never had the chance to look at her properly when she’s doing it. There’s this little light in her eyes, almost like they are glowing or something.

“Doctor?”  
“Yes?” he replies in an instant.  
“You… You can let go of my shoulder now.”  
“What?”  
“Your hand, Doctor. It’s still on my shoulder. You can let me go, I won’t fly off or anything.”  
The Doctor’s very confused for a few seconds, then it hits him that she’s right: he’s still got his hand placed on her shoulder, holding her down despite not needing to. He doesn’t want to break the skin contact, but he’s not sure he’s got a choice. He removes his hand from her shoulder, backing away, without breaking eye contact.

“Oh”, is all he can think of to say.  
She laughs.  
“Yeah, thanks. I need to, um… Change...”  
She gestures at her current outfit, and he nods once it clicks in his brain.  
“Yes, of course. I’ll just...”

He backs away before turning around completely, leaving her room.

  
***

  
Rose adjusts her pink dress, taking one last look in the mirror before heading towards the door. She almost forgets her tea, still on the desk where the Doctor left it. She grabs the cup between both of her hands, getting a little sad when feeling that it’s gone cold. The Doctor made it just for her, and she just left it there.

Downstairs, they are all gathered in the sitting room. Everyone’s wrapped up in their own activity: Jenny’s laying on her stomach, a box of crayons next to her as she concentrates completely on what she’s drawing on the paper in front of her. Jack’s sitting in one of the couches, his partly invisable legs crossed as he reads the book in his hands. Amelia is curled up in Clara’s lap, probably sleeping. Amy sits next to them, watching her younger sister silently. Martha and River are both sitting a bit from the others, Martha telling River a story about something while River’s eyes are fixed on the two pens flying around in circles above her head. At first Rose is confused, until it hits her that River’s the one making the pens do that.

When she reaches the bottom of the stairs, everyone kind of stops. Jenny looks up from her drawing, Jack puts his book down, Amy turns her head and the two pens hits the floor as River’s attention is directed to Rose. The blonde stands at the bottom of the staircase, hands clasped around the now cold cup of tea. She can’t say she feels really comfortable with all the eyes in the room looking at her. Without warning Jenny gets up from the floor and runs over to her, wrapping her arms around her legs in a tiny, adorable hug. Rose lets go of the cup with one hand to pat her back in a half-hearted attempt to return to affection.

“Clara said you were dead!” Jenny cries.  
“ _What_?” Rose questions, utterly confused.  
Clara rises from the couch at that, handing a newly awakened Amelia to Amy. The little girl yawns, blinking before her eyes fixes on Rose.  
“I never said she was dead, Jenny. I said that she _would have died_ , if the Doctor hadn’t been there to save her.”  
While talking she walks over to them, offering to take the cup from Rose’s hands with a out stretched hand. Rose almost accepts the offer, before holding the cup close to her chest and pushing past Clara.

She stops in the middle of the room, everyone still looking right at her. Clara’s words keeps repeating in her brain, on and on: _she would have died_. If there’s one thing Rose knows about ymbrynes, it’s that they aren’t unintelligent. Quite the opposite, if she understood Jackie’s brief history lessons correctly. There aren’t much an ymbryne doesn’t know, especially when it comes to peculiars. Meaning, Clara must’ve been very aware of the risks. The risk that involved her being pulled away by the wind and lost forever.

Rose turns around, looking back at Jenny. Despite her very (literally) strengthening peculiarity she seems so small and weak where she’s pearing out from behind Clara, her blue eyes big and confused. She’s still a kid, after all. A kid who Clara told the possible consequences of her mistake. The mistake that could’ve cost Rose her life. A mistake she knew very well she was making.

A new feeling bubbles up through Rose’s body: anger. Hot, unforgiving anger. Anger that forces itself up to the surface, slowly taking over her body and mind, inch by inch.

“Where’s the Doctor?” she finds herself asking, partly cause she’s genuinely wondering and partly cause she’s got a feeling he’ll make her feel better.  
“He went out”, Clara replies simply.  
There’s something about her voice, something about the way she says it. Something that causes Rose’s hands to shake.

“Rose? You okay?”  
She isn’t sure who said it, but it sure did sound like Martha. She thinks about replying, but her mouth feels dry. She takes a few steps closer to Clara, her gaze locking on the brunette’s eyes.

“Why did you do it?” Rose questions her.  
“Do what?”  
“You know bloody well what!”  
“No, Rose, I really don’t. You’ll have to explain it to me”, Clara replies, keeping her voice low and calm despite the tension in the room.  
“Back on the beach”, the blonde says, spitting out the words through between her teeth.  
Clara sighs, crossing her arms over her chest.  
“Rose, what…? What exactly do you think happened out there?” she wonders.  
“All I know is that you allowed me to leave me shoes despite being very aware of would happen! No, you know what? You suggested it! You suggested it, and you knew what would happen!”  
“Rose! I did not know what would happen, if I had I obviously never wou-”  
“You even told Jenny!” Rose spits out.

It’s like someone pressed a button, paused time itself. Everyone stops moving, stops breathing. The eyes that were previously on Rose are now drawn to Clara, the ymbryne’s gaze lowering to the floor as the accusing looks hits her. She exhales sharply, then inhales, before looking up to meet Rose’s eyes once more.

“Is it true?” Amy asks.  
She’s still on her spot in the couch, Amelia in her lap. The two sisters stares at Clara, almost glaring. Clara shakes her head.  
“No, no, I- Kids, listen! I would never put any of you in any kind of harm, and you know that. What happened to Rose was a horrible accident, and I can’t find words to tell you how happy I am that nothing more serious happened.“  
“If you didn’t want to put me in danger, then why did you do it?”

Jack sighs at that, putting his book on the table.  
“Rose, just leave it. Alright? She said she’s sorry, she apologized. What more do you want?”  
Something seems to snap inside Rose. She more or less throws herself at Clara, Jenny moving to stand between the two.  
“Stop!” she cries out, but no one seems to hear it.

“Apologize!? You never apologized, you’ve just been-!”  
Rose’s shouts are suddenly cut off when Jenny puts her hands under her knees, hurling her across the room.

She lands on her back, black spots clouding her vision as the air is knocked out of her lungs. Pain shoots up her spine, but she isn’t even able to cry out. All she can do is lay there, gaping like a dying fish as she struggles for at least some oxygen before she passes out.

The thing bringing her mind back to focus is a hand on her arm. The black spots soon vanishes from her field of vision, and she finds herself staring into Martha’s eyes. The dark haired girl observes her silently, probably looking for any serious damage. Rose tries to sit up, but she feels kind of weak. Her lower back hurts. She whimpers. Martha stops her by moving her hand to her hip.

“No no, stay still. I still don’t know if you’ve had any serious-”  
“I’m fine!” Rose spits out.  
She does another attempt to get up to her feet, but she can’t. She ends up falling back down, groaning as the back of her head bumps into the surface of the table on which she landed.

In that very moment, the Doctor comes through the back door from the garden. He stops moving the second he senses something’s wrong. Rose can barely find the energy to say his name, so she starts searching for his eye contact. It doesn’t take too long for him to notice her, since everyone else is looking at her. Something seems to break in him, and he makes an attempt to get to her. He does, however, back away as Martha holds up a hand as a warning.

Rose’s brain has started to return from the pain and the chock, and she’s aware enough to notice that almost everyone has left the room. The only ones remaining are her, Martha, the Doctor and Clara. She also starts to wonder why she’s still laying flat instead of floating, but it soon hits her that the soft pressure of Martha’s hand is enough to keep her still.

“She just needs a bit of rest”, Martha informs the others after looking up and down Rose once again.  
The blonde nods. She decides not to comment on the fact that she was talking about her even through she’s right there. She does another attempt to sit up, but the result is the same: pain. She whimpers as she falls back down again.

“I could carry her”, the Doctor offers, turning to Martha.  
No one seems to protest.

  
***

  
“Here we are!” the Doctor annunces happily, kicking the door to Rose’s room open and entering.  
The blonde smiles in his arms, the thought of climbing under the covers of a warm bed sending a relief through her.

The Doctor carries her over to the bed, hesitating.  
“Umm...?”  
Rose understands where the sudden confusion is coming from.  
“I lay on the bed first, then remove my shoes once the strap is secured around my body”, she explains.  
“Okay...”

Very slowly, like she was a fragile porcelain doll, he places her on her back on the bed. He’s quick to grab each part of the leather strap, joining them together with the clasp just over her stomach. She shifts a little, looking for that position that will allow her to get comfortable. The Doctor is lost in thoughts, standing by the bed and just looking at her. It might be kind of creepy, if she wasn’t so-

One tiny, still active part of his brain registers that she just said something. To him.  
“What?”  
“My shoes, I can’t get comfortable with them on!”  
“Oh. Yeah, right.”  
He moves to the foot of her bed, starting to work in getting her out of her lead shoes. Turns out, the clasps was the easy part. They turn out to be way heavier than he thought.

“Seriously, how do you even walk in these?”  
“I’m just used to it, I guess.”  
“There are nicer things to get used to… Where do you want them?”  
“It’s not like I had any choice, is it? Either wear the shoes or sit tied down to a chair all day long. And, just by the side of the bed.”  
He nods, following her instruction on where to put her shoes. He has to put some effort into lifting them, but it’s not too difficult.

“Do you need anything else? Some water, some pain killers, some ice, some-?”  
“Doctor! I’m fine! It barely hurts anymore, only when I move.”  
“Alright, then. Might…? Might I ask what happened?”  
Rose sighs.  
“It’s not exactly something I’m proud of.”  
“Everyone makes mistakes, you know”, he tells her with a smile.  
Rose shakes her head.  
“Not like this.”  
The Doctor gives her a look asking if he can sit down on her bed. She nods in permission, and he plops down right next to where her’s feet’s laying.

“Tell me”, he requests softly.  
“I… I got mad at Clara so I guess I kind of attacked her, and then Jenny pushed me away. Or, more like threw me. You know how strong she is, that girl.”  
Rose forces a smile, but it disappears pretty quickly.  
“And… Why did you get mad at her?”  
“Cause… I don’t know, it’s kind of complicated. I just… I just… You remember on the beach, yeah? I liked it, it was a kind of freedom or something. Then I flew away, and I didn’t like it anymore. It was scary. As you might be able to guess. Anyway… Despite still being terrified by that incident, I can’t stop thinking about how much I enjoyed it. How free I felt. I think all that frustrated and confused me, and I might’ve taken those feelings out on Clara. It was stupid and rubbish of me and I should feel bad about it, and honestly I do. And-”

He silences her by holding up a finger.  
“If you ask me about my opinion - which you haven’t, but I’m gonna tell you anyway - I think you should talk to her.”  
Rose seems confused, worried even.  
“Talk? To Clara?”  
“Yup. Just… Tell her what you told me. About your frustration and all that. Might help. I’m sure she’ll understand.”  
“You think?”  
“Yup!”

The conversation appears to have died out after that. Neither of them seem to be able to think of something to say. Rose rolls over so she’s facing the wall, her hand under her chin. She lets her eyes fall shut, allowing her body to relax. She can’t feel any pain anymore, which is a good thing. She hopes.

“Rose?”  
She’s brought out of her supposed-to-be alone time.  
“Hm?” she replies, not bothering to open her eyes.  
“When… When you said you liked it, feeling free and all that… What did you mean?”  
This time she does open her eyes.  
“What I meant? I meant what I said.”  
“Okay… Of course you did. I was just thinking… With a rope tied around your waist, you wouldn’t need to worrying about things like blowing away. You could be out of your shoes and still be completely safe.”

Rose rolls over onto her back, looking at him.  
“And, has this theory been tested?” she asks.  
“Well, no. Not with humans, anyway.”  
“Then with what? Please don’t say what I think you are going to say.”  
He inhales sharply through his nose.  
“Sorry...”  
“What did I say about baloons?” she cries.  
“Sorry”, he repeats.  
Rose is quick to deliver a playful slap to his knee.

“Ouch! I said I was sorry!”  
“I heard. I just wanted to do that.”  
“Why?”  
She shrugs the best she can from her position.  
“Just wanted to. Hey, does that baloon metaphor include someone holding the other end of the rope which I am tied to?”  
He nods.  
“It does.”  
“Interesting… Thing is, I’m not sure I’ll be able to trust anyone that much. I mean.. That person would, quite literally, have my life in their hands.”

The Doctor nods, humming to indicate that he understands.  
“You know earlier, the tea you made me?” Rose reminds him.  
“You didn’t like it, did you?” he gasps out, voice anxious.  
She shakes her head.  
“No no, it was brilliant. But, I’ve been wondering: why didn’t you just use the kettle?”  
“The kettle?” he questions, tilting his head to the side.  
“Yes. It would have been easier, wouldn’t it? I mean, you wouldn’t have to ask Amy to help you. Which I’m sure would have felt better for her as well.”  
“You think?”  
“Absolutely! You don’t want her to feel you are taking advantage of her peculiarity, do you?”  
“No, of course not!”

There’s a flash of something in the Doctor’s eyes, an emotion Rose can’t seem to make sense of. It’s nothing positive, through. He’s began fiddling with the duvet, twisting a corner of the soft fabric between his fingers. He seems so very unhappy all of sudden, and Rose’s heart aches for him. She sits up as much as she’s able to with the leather strap still around her body, placing her hand on top of his to still his movements. The skin contact brings his full attention back to her.

He smiles.


	7. The first ymbryne

“Oh my _god_!” Rose shierks after getting a good look at her reflection in the full-length mirror.  
“Don’t worry, you look lovely”, the Doctor assures her.  
“Well, my dress doesn’t. Look at it, it’s all... Wrinkly.”  
Their eyes meet in the mirror. He places his hands on her hips, getting to work on smoothing out the bright pink fabric. He drags his hands down her legs, slowly, before putting them back on her hips and starting over.

“Better?” he asks after repeating the process a few times.  
“You are my hero, I swear you are!” she exclaims, spinning around to face him.  
“Well, it’s just a dress… Hold on, is that why you changed into a nightgown despite just taking a nap?”  
“That it is. Talking about something completely different, what time is it?”  
“I think… Oh, it’s almost dinner.”  
“Is it? Already?”  
“Yup!”  
“Okay… We better head downstairs, then.”  
“We better”, he agrees.

  
***

  
“Rose! You’re up! Do you feel any better?”

Rose completely ignores Clara’s attempt to make contact with her, pulling out a chair from under the table and taking a seat. The young ymbryne looks kind of offended in some way, but doesn’t say anything. Rose clasps her hands over her knees, making a silent decision to never put her well-being in anyone’s hands again.

Dinner is served, and everyone starts eating without sharing a word. Rose discovers that the food is a great distraction from any negative thoughts that happen to pop up in her brain, so she concentrates on exactly that. She doesn’t really pay attention to what the others are talking about, she’s lost in her own little world. She keeps twirling and untwerling the pasta around her fork.

“You’re not alright, are you?” Jenny asks her, though it sounds more like a statement than an actual question.  
“‘M fine”, Rose replies, showing some pasta into her mouth and chewing it aggressively.  
That action seems to kill some of the other’s appetite. Amy places her cutlery on the table with a sigh.

“What?” Clara asks her.  
“It’s not very hard to figure out, is it? She is obviously still upset over what hap-”  
“I said I’m _fine_ ”, Rose spits out, earning a glare from Clara.  
“If you truly are fine then shouting is no way to prove it. Please, can’t we just dine in peace _once_?” the brunette asks, kindly yet annoyed.

Silence takes over the table once more. They all seem to pretend like the last conversation never happened. That includes Rose. The blonde refuses to look at anything but the half-eaten food on her plate, swallowing down her pasta without as much as a word. She have to admit Clara’s right: the only meal they’ve ever had around this table that didn’t involve any drama was the first one, and that was basically cause no one said anything. But, on the other hand, how _normal_ can it get when you gather a bunch of young peculiars around the same table?

Time passes oddly quick for a situation this uncomfortable: it feels like there’s a matter of minutes until everyone’s finished eating and Clara kindly requests that they wait for her in the classroom.

  
***

  
Once everyone’s found a desk to sit at Clara takes her place in front of the blackboard, twirling the piece of white chalk in her hand.  
“I orginally planned for us to have our first practical lesson now, but I figured that neither of you were up to that after the day’s earlier events. So, we’ll have a history lesson!”

Jack groans, and some of the girls giggles at his reaction. He blushes once realizing that the groan wasn’t as subtle as he thought. Clara only smiles, understanding.  
“You can’t like everything in the world, can you? This, however, won’t be your typical normal-school history lesson.”  
As if to prove her point she spins around, writing something across the board with big letters. Very big letters. It’s honestly very hard to miss what it says.

_History of the peculiar_

She smiles at her class, seeming very pleased with herself. She takes a deep breath, hesitating a short moment as if to collect herself. She lets her eyes wander between each and every one of her students, bracing herself before speaking:  
“I just… It’s such an honor for me, telling you guys stuff like this. Stuff I never learned. Stuff I wish I knew. If I did know all this when I was your age, I wouldn’t have felt so _bloody lonely_ my entire-”

Clara interrupts herself in the middle of her little rant, looking rather embarrassed. Her gaze moves down to her feet, a soft blush visable on her cheeks. An awkward little laugh escapes her lips and she looks like she’s about to say something, but doesn’t. She just stands there, looking pretty nervous. It takes a few more seconds of her taking deep breaths to return to her previous calm state. She clears her throat before speaking once again, her voice low and a bit shaky this time.

“Sorry about that, kids. It was not my intention to get that emotional, I simply couldn’t help it. I’m sure you’ll all understand.”  
She gets several replies in the form of wordless nods, but that seems to be enough for her. Clara lets her eyes wander over them once again. They’ve barely reacted, just looking at her with big and slightly confused eyes. She feels bad, she’s not going to deny that. She’s very aware of the fact that she needs to stay focused and keep her mind on the teaching. That part haven’t changed a bit since her primary school classes back in London. She should be able to manege that, she really should.

Taking a deep breath, she tries again:  
“So, as I was saying: we’ll be having a history lesson. But, don’t worry, we won’t be reading any boring articles or stuff like that. No, we’ll be talking about the history of peculiars. Which is, if I’m gonna be honest, quite interesting. I think I’ll just start with a question: what do you know about this subject?”

She taps her index finger twice against the board, right under the words she’s written there. She waits. And waits. And waits. And waits a little more. When it becomes obvious that none of her students are going to raise their hands, she’ll simply have to take matters into her own hands.  
“In today’s lesson, we’ll be talking about ymbrynes, since they are a big part of the peculiar history. Th-”  
“Like you?” Jenny questions.  
Clara sighs.  
“Yes Jenny, like me. Now would you please raise your hand if you’ve got any future comments?”  
The young blonde in question nods. Clara quickly recovers from the interruption, starting over:

“As I was saying, again: ymbrynes. Like me, yes. The reason we are starting on this particular subject is because without ymbrynes, peculiardom simply wouldn’t be what it is today. Back when loops were used, ymbrynes were the ones a create and make sure they were reset. Parents used to send their peculiar children to an ymbryne so she could care for and protect them within the loop. The few of them that cared for their children, that is. Sadly, parents of this time wasn’t exactly proud of having a kid who wasn’t like everyone else. It pains me to say this, but the majority of children living in loops were rescued from an home in which they weren’t loved.”

Clara decides to pause there. It can be a lot to take in, she’s aware of that. It makes her sad to even think about it, but she has to concentrate on the task at hand. She can’t break down or anything, that would be everything but professional. She sucks in a breath, continueing:

“In today’s society, however, there’s no need for loops. The world has changed a lot since then, and now every peculiar can be a part of the normals' world. And since loops aren’t used anymore, the ymbrynes slowly lost their ability to control time. They simply didn’t need it anymore. Something they - we - have kept is our ability to shape shift into a bird. Not that it’s used very often, but it’s still there.”  
She’s about to say something else, when River lifts her hand into the air, holding it there until it becomes clear she isn’t just stretching. Clara nods at her.  
“River”, she says, giving the curly-haired girl permission to speak.

“Yes. If ymbrynes lost the loop-creating-ability when they stoped using loops, does that mean that the first ymbryne was born simply for the purpose of making loops?” River asks, taking her hand down again once she’s finished.  
It looks like Clara needs to think about an answer to that. She gazes at the board behind her for a short second, like she expects the answer to be written there.  
“Interesting question, that one. And no, I wouldn’t say that. The thing is, the first ymbryne didn’t even know she was an ymbryne for the first few years of her life. She wasn’t even a human who turned into a bird, but a bird who could turn into a human. She was at the time, like any peculiar at some point of their life, very confused about why she wasn’t like everyone else. The story of the first ymbryne is one of my personal favorites from the _Tales_ , especially since I’m one myself. I find it very inspiring. But, that for another time. Now-”

Clara spins around, facing the board and raising her hand to write something else. She’s interrupted in the middle of the movement, however, as the room is filled with protests from the children.  
“Tell it now!”  
“Yes!”  
“Pleeaasee!”  
“Tell us the story!”  
“I wanna hear it!”  
“No, _why_?”

She isn’t sure who’s saying what, since the high-pitched whines blends together into a mess of sadness and displeasure. She turns back around, looking at them. Each and every one of them are staring at her, eyes filled with expectations. She looks at the board, and then back at them again. She sighs.

“Alright, alright, I will tell the story now. But, you all have to sit still and be quiet. If you don’t, no story.”  
It’s almost comical to watch how they, in matter of seconds, sit up with their backs straight and hands flat on the desk on front of them. They sit completely still and quiet, Clara isn’t even sure they are still breathing.  
“Not like that! Just… Behave, okay?”  
They all nod in union. Clara grabs a chair that’s been standing in the corner, moving it over in front of all the desks and sitting down. She puts one leg over the other, gets comfortable, and clears her throat.

“Like I already mentioned, the first ymbryne was actually a bird who could turn into a human, and not the other way around like it is today. Her name was Ymeene. It’s, like you might have figured out, from her name we got the modern term for those peculiars.

Ymeene’s whole family were nothing but ordinary birds, and they didn’t like the fact that she wasn’t like them. Her father gave her that specific name cause it means strange one in their language. Her habit of becoming human didn’t make her popular at all: she would push her siblings out of the nest with her size, or her loud human words would disturb them of their hunt for food.

One day, their nest was attacked. In that fight, all but one of Ymeene’s siblings were killed. She asked her father why they hadn’t just surrendered and found a new nest, to which he replied that there’s no honor in running away. Ymeene didn’t understand that at all. Her family was lost, where’s the honor in that? She made the decision to leave her father and go her own way.

She eventually came across a village of humans, and she observed them from the nearby trees. Learning their behaviour and their language, but never actually entering the village. Until hunger finally took over, that is.

By now she knew enough of the human language to have conversations with them. She soon found that they were really friendly, and as a bonus she really liked the food. An old man offered her to stay in his barn, and she gladly accepted the offer. In the time she stayed with the humans she learned new things and got to know new people. Still, she hadn’t gotten used to not sleeping in trees. Every evening she turned back to a bird and flew up to the treetops were she fell asleep. One particular evening, one of the villagers saw her change shape. The humans scared her off with torches, saying she was a witch.

Ymeene was heartbroken after being chased off like that. She started wandering again, and this time she was extremely carefull not to turn into a bird in the presence of any human. It wasn’t long until she met her first peculiar, a man able to remove his head and carry it with him. He took her with him to a camp filled with other peculiars. Ymeene felt reliefed: here she could live without being judged.

What Ymeene didn’t know was that this was known as the darkest period of peculiardom. Normals were driving peculiars away until they had no where to go. It soon turned they were gonna do the same to the band she just joined. She kept trying to tell them to run away before it was too late, but they all refused. They were tired of the normals treating them like that, they said. Ymeene understood that, she really did. As much as she wanted to stay with her friends, she had already lost so much to war.

She left early in the morning. She hadn’t flown for long before she spotted the normals’ army: at least a hundred men, in full armor. The peculiars wouldn’t stand a chance! She returned to the small camp to warn the leader, but he gave her the same answer as her father did all those years ago: there’s no honor in running away. Ymeene tried all in her power to persuade him, but he wouldn’t listen. And it was too late, anyway: the normals would be there in a matter of minutes.

When the sun rose over the black army, Ymeene decided she could put her ability to repeat things to an actual use for once: she repeated the sunrise, so she could see it one last time. Then she did it again. And again. And again. And then it hit her: the normals hadn’t gotten any closer. They were exactly where they were when she first repeated the sunrise. She wasn’t just making sure they could all see the sun rise all over again, she was holding the normals back. Having finally found a use for her otherwise useless gift, she created new loops inside the old one. The loop got longer and longer, until it lasted 24 hours: it reset every morning when they could see the black army in the distance.

Ymeene had just created the first loop.”

Rose forces down a yawn, perfectly aware that it would be extremely rude to yawn when someone’s just finished a story. The truth is, she’s tired. Despite the nap. It’s been a long day for her, and it’s pretty late anyways.

Clara rises from the chair, putting it back into the corner where she found it.  
“Alright, so that’s that. Now, go and play before bedtime. Oh, and before I forget… Rose, I’d like to have a chat with you.”  
Rose’s stomach turns inside out at those words. There’s a lump growing in her throat, a lump she fails to swallow down despite many attempts. As the others starts to leave, Clara waves her over to the teacher’s desk. Her feet seems to move by themselfs, bringing her over to Clara just as the brunette puts a leather notebook into a compartment beneth the desk. She doesn’t seem mad or anything, she’s actually in a pretty good mood.

“Sorry about that, I forget that some of you are too old to go out and play. Old habits stay hard, you know”, Clara laughs.  
Rose doesn’t share her happiness.  
“What did you want to talk about?” she asks coldly, every worst-case-scenario playing in her mind.  
Clara’s smile dies away.  
“Yes. I… Rose, do you want to go home?”  
That was the last thing Rose expected.  
“...What?”  
“After what happend at the beach”, Clara explains.  
“No, I...”  
“Rose, you have every reason in the world for wanting to leave this place. I don’t blame you for getting mad, I really don’t. And don’t worry, I’ll talk to Jenny. Just… You can think about it, yeah? I don’t want you to stay here if you don’t feel safe.”  
“Thanks”, Rose mutters, leaving the classroom.

Once the door has closed behind Rose, Clara slides down against the wall until she’s sitting on the floor. Hiding her face behind her hands, she cries. It’s a silent crying, tears running down her face.

Standing up on wobbly legs she holds her arms out, taking a breath. It all feels a little better once she’s changed, she doesn’t feel like a complete failure. Stretching her black wings she flies out the open window, her bird eyes locking on a branch before diving down and landing on it.

She hasn’t been in bird form in such a long time.


	8. Demostrations of abilities

You don’t need to be a genius to figure out that Clara’s got something planned. The young ymbryne’s even fixed an extra large breakfast for them, one that makes Rose’s mouth water. She has to actually stop herself from reaching out and grabbing a strawberry piece out of the bowl with neatly cut fruit.

“What’s all this for?” the Doctor wonders, right in the middle of deciding what jam he’ll have on his toast.  
“Nothing much, I just wanted to do something extra. You’re all gonna need your strengh today”, Clara tells them.  
“And why’s that?” Jack murmurs, distracted by the sandwich he just put together.  
“Today, you’ll begin your training. Sorry, that sounded wierd… A bit Jedi, right? What I mean is: today, you’ll learn more about your peculiarity and how to handle it”, the ymbryne tells them.  
“I already know that”, Jenny informs her.  
“There’s always new things to learn”, Clara tells her, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

The Doctor shierks in triumph, making the others jump. The reason for his sudden outburst turns out to be the glass jar containing banana jam he’s just located. He spreads a thick layer of it onto his toast before biting down on it, humming in content.

“Mmmmm…! This is good stuff, this!”  
“I guess you like bananas”, Rose giggles.  
“Oh, yes! Bananas and jam..! Who ever invented this was pure genius, I’m telling you!”  
Rose can’t help but giggle.  
“What?” he wonders, so confused it’s cute.  
Rose’s giggles gets louder.  
“What?”  
“Nothing, I… Don’t worry, I’m not laughing at you”, she assures him.  
“That’s good to know”, he replies, grinning.  
“Rose and the Doctor, sitting in a tree…!” Amelia sings, Jenny joining in.  
“Knock it off!” Rose barks, shutting them up.

The two returns to their breakfast, and so does Rose. She’s very happy with her breakfast in the form of yoghurt topped with all kinds of fruits. It might seem a bit over-healthy for someone who’s more or less obsessed with chips. Sure, chips and stuff are lovely, but you still need variation.

The rest of the breakfast is quiet. There’s a tension in the air. Rose thinks she understands why: they are all probably nervous. She doesn’t blame them. She’s pretty nervous herself, even if she wouldn’t like to admit it. This is something you shouldn’t fear, simply. If anything you should be excited to show everyone what you can do. But, then again, what she can do isn’t really something cool. It’s about the same level of cool as a baloon, no matter how much she hates that simile.

Then, suddenly, Clara’s words from last night repeats themselfs in the back of her head. How she asked her if she wants to go home. Does she want to go home? No idea. It’s not something she’s thought about. She usually get anxious and disturbing thoughts when she’s gone to bed, but last night her mind was occupied with the story Clara told them. She even had a dream about some kind of bird, though she didn’t make much sense of it once awake. Not that dreams ever makes much sense, anyway.

As much as Rose tries not to stare at Amelia, it’s hard. She honestly feels bad, since she knows exactly how horrible it feels when someone’s staring at you. It’s not out of disgust or anything, she actually finds it quite facinating. She silently wonders if the little girl is capable of tasting things like everyone else. Probably. That would explain her satisfied hum and the tongue swipes across the corner of the mouth before she once again hides it behind her red hair. Her normal (God, Rose hates that word) face mouth smiles adorably as she puts the fork back next to her plate.

Then River perks up, like she just remembered something important.  
“Wait, what you said before… I have might be able to do things I haven’t discovered yet?” she asks, turning to Clara.  
“That is the case sometimes, yes. I once knew a man who didn’t-”  
“Cool! I’ve always hoped I’ve got some secret talent involving blowing up people’s minds with my thoughts. If I just get mad enough...”  
“No no no, that’s awful! Why would you want to do that to a person!?” the Doctor yelps from across the table.  
River rolls her eyes.  
“If they are annoying, of course. Or I could just erase part of my memory and forget I ever met them. Yes, that seems like a good plan. Can you do that, Clara?”

The brunette in question clears her throat, a bit unsure of what to say.  
“Kids… No one is blowing anyone’s mind up in any way, not on my watch. And even if you could find a way to permanently erase pieces of your own memory, it would be far too risky for anyone to actually do it.”  
River’s face lights up. For a second she seems excited over the fact that she might have started a discussion, but no one else around the table comments on it.

  
***

  
Rose twirls a thin strand of blond hair around her index finger. It’s a habit she’s developed: she knows no good comes out of it and it only gets painful to brush her hair in the morning, but she still does it whenever she’s anxious. Like now, for example. They are all standing in a nice little line, facing Clara. Clara’s got her hands behind her back and her eyes are roaming over each and every one of them like she’s an evil witch trying to decide who she’ll cook first. The last part is, obviously, nothing more than Rose’s mind playing her a prank in the heat of the moment.

Then she clears her throat, and Rose briefly relives all of those moments of horror when the teacher was gonna point randomly and you had to answer the question. Clara, on the other hand, turns out to be much nicer.  
“Alright, who’d like to show me what they can do?”  
Several hands shoot up into the air, waving around to get their teacher’s attention. It actually seems like Clara is just enjoying the moment, before she snaps back.  
“Sorry, just… None of my fifth graders ever did that, they were all terrified of me. Or, that’s what it seemed like… Anyway… River, would you like to give it a go?”

River takes her hand down once her name is called, smiling proudly and walking over to stand in front of the others. Her smile soon turns into insecurity and she turns to Clara.  
“What do I, um… do?”  
“Make something fly!” Amelia yells, not giving Clara time to answer.  
River happily accepts the challenge, looking around for an object in the right size. Her eyes lands on a dark green leaf by the foot of one of trees. She locks her gaze on it in concentration, and a few seconds later the leaf lifts from the ground. It rises into the air in a spiral motion, like it was blowing in the wind. There’s no wind there, though. The leaf is moving completely on its own, past River and towards the rest of the group. It floats over to the Doctor, going in circles around his head before finally falling down, landing in his palm. He lifts it up to eye level to examine it, as if to see if it was a trick or anything. Once he’s satesfied it isn’t he lets it fall down to his feet.

“Impressive”, he says softly.  
“That’s just showing off”, Rose mutters.  
She choses not to participate in the applause that follows. She is in fact a little impressed, but that still doesn’t give her reason to show it. She’ll never understand how people can just show off their peculiarity to the world like that. She always learned that your peculiarity is something personal, not something you can just show whoever you’d like. That’s just… Wrong.

Clara walks over to River, studying the younger like she’s trying to figure something out.  
“I don’t know if you know this, but telekinetic is pretty rare. When did you find out what you can do?”  
River thinks about the question.  
“I’m not completely sure, but I think it was somewhere around when I was ten.”  
Clara nods.  
“And… Have you ever tried lifting anything heavier than a small stone or a leaf?”  
“A few times, yes. It didn’t end very well, I still need a lot of concentration to make the small stuff do what I want.”  
“No peculiarity is the same as someone else’s, like I told you. There are different rates to all of them. Yours could just be naturally weak, but if you ask me I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to train it so it gets stronger.”  
River’s eyes goes big.  
“You mean I could learn to blow someone’s brain up?”  
Clara sighs.  
“I really don’t see what that would be good for, but if that’s what motivates you...”, she murmurs.  
“Well, if that someone pisses you off-”  
“That is not what we teach in this school, River. Now please be quiet and get back to the line!” the ymbryne snaps.  
“Alright”, the curly-haired girl whimpers, clearly not understanding what got her so upset.

“Anyone else?” Clara asks the students standing in front of her, her voice tense.  
No one moves for a moment, but then Jenny lifts her hand. Clara turns her attention to the young blonde, nodding. Jenny happily walks over to the spot where River previously stood. Her attention is soon drawn to a rather large rock, and she walks over to it with determination written all over her face.

“Why can’t I do something that cool?” Rose whispers to herself, watching Jenny lift the rock over her head without even struggling to do so.  
“I think what you can do is pretty cool”, the Doctor whispers back, suprising her.  
She didn’t expect anyone to hear it.  
“All I can do is a float around, and I don’t see how that’s useful in any way. But if you do, please tell me.”  
“Well… For starters, getting something down from a high shelf wouldn’t be a problem for you. Also, the definitions of cool is very diff-”

His voice is cut off by the suprised noise he makes as Jenny drops the stone back onto the ground with a loud thump. The young blonde rubs her palms together to get rid of the dirt from underneath the rock. She bounds over to Clara, face glowing like a little puppy waiting for a reward after completing a complicated trick. It’s obvious that Clara isn’t planning on giving her some kind of treat: the only reward the ymbryne offers is a smile and a nod.

“A very good demostration, Jenny. Though next time, you might not want to smash the poor rock.”  
Jenny looks back, suprised to see the crack running across across the top of the rock.  
“Sorry”, she says before returning to standing next to River.

Rose’s heart is pounding in her chest. Why can they all do these incredeble stuff, while what she can do is…well, useless? It isn’t, she decides. She’s got as much use of her ability as anyone here, she just needs to figure out what for. She just needs a little help, that’s all. She can’t think of anyone but the man who actually saved her life.

Moving closer to the Doctor, her mouth right at his ear, she whispers:  
“Let’s go to the beach after lunch, yeah?”  
He seems to think it sounds like a good idea.


	9. A private session

The Doctor’s got absolutely no idea what “going to the beach after lunch” refers to. He sure was not prepared to find Rose waiting for him on the grass below the porch, a pretty long rope wrapped around her shoulder and arm as she carries it with her.  
“What’s this for?” he asks, but the only reply he gets is a signal to be quiet in the form of Rose holding up a finger in front of her lips.  
As she starts walking she waves for him to follow her, so he does.

“Now do you mind telling me what the rope’s for?” he asks again once the school is almost out of their line of sight.  
“Me”, she says simply.  
“What?”  
“You heard me.”  
“Yes, I did. I still don’t… What do you mean?”  
“Right now, I’m gonna prove my peculiarity isn’t as useless as everyone here probably thinks.”  
“Hold on, hold on…! No one here thinks that! Who are you gonna prove it to, anyway?”  
“Myself, I guess. Does it matter? Let’s just say it’s about dealing with your fears, okay? My mum always told me you should do that, before you get too scared of whatever you’re scared of. I have absolutely no idea if that made any sense, but that’s what we’re doing today!” she announces.  
“I do admire your determination, Rose. I’ve only got one question.”  
“Alright, shoot.”  
“What’s my role in this?”  
She suddenly stops walking, turning to look at him.

“You, mister, get the great honor of holding the other end of the rope.”

  
***

  
Once they’ve reached the line where the grass is replaced by sand, Rose is so nervous she’s actually in pain. Literally. Right now it feels like her stomach is full of a thousand bees all buzzing around in panic. She once read a story about a boy with bees living in his stomach, but he couldn’t possibly have felt this horribly all the time. All she wants to do right now is honestly hide under her covers forever.

Still, she can’t do that. It’s better to just get it over with, to have it done.

Earlier, Clara made sure to praise every single one of the peculiars who had one by one demonstrated what they can do. Not Rose, though. Cause Rose didn’t do it. Rose simply kept quiet, hoping that by some miracle Clara wouldn’t notice her. She didn’t want to do. Not that she thinks Clara expected anything from her.

She takes a deep, shaking breath.  
“I can’t walk on the grass anyway, can I?” she says slowly, pulling the rope off her shoulder and instead tying it around her middle. Her fingers are shaking, and the Doctor places a hand over her.  
“Let me”, he suggests softly.  
Rose removes her hands from the half-hearted attempt at tying a knot, letting him take over. He makes it a dubble knot, and she’s grateful for that.

“Rose?” he asks, pulling her suddenly from her many thoughts.  
“Mmm?”  
“Why do you wanna do this? I mean, really? Cause I haven’t known you for very long, but you don’t seem like the kind of girl who would do a thing that terrifies her simply to prove something to herself”, the Doctor explains, his eyes never leaving her face.  
“No, I guess not… Or, maybe I am...”, she murmurs.  
The Doctor places his hands on her shoulders, looking so deep into her eyes she fears he might see her soul.  
“Rose, what’s wrong?”

Then, suddenly, Rose feels like crying. She presses her eyes shut, not wanting to cry. A lonely tear still manages to forces its way out under her eyelid. She might as well tell him.  
“Clara asked me if I wanted to go home”, she blurts out.  
“What?”  
“Yeah...”  
“But… Did you…? You’re not actually going to leave, right? Rose?”  
The Doctor’s voice rises as he starts to panic. Rose opens her eyes to look at him, wiping her tears away with the sleeve of her dress.  
“I am thinking about it”, she confesses quietly.  
“Why? Rose, you can’t leave! You- You can’t!”  
“And why not? I thought it was my decision?” she replies coldly.  
“Yes, of course it is! I just- I- Thing is, I don’t want you to leave because I-”

When the words have gotten stuck in his throat a third time he gives up, deciding instead to wrap her in a hug. She isn’t complaining, pressing her body against him.

  
***

  
“When did she ask you?”  
“Yesterday, after she told us the story.”  
“Yeah, I remember her saying something about wanting to talk to you.”  
Rose nods, swallowing.  
“She did. I thought she would yell at me, but I guess I was wrong.”  
The Doctor seems confused.  
“And why’s that?”  
Rose sighs.  
“I told you, I got really upset with her.”  
“Oh. But I don’t think you can blame someone for getting upset, I mean-”  
Rose shakes her head, silencing him.

They are sitting next to each other in the grass, under one of the larger trees. The rope lays abandoned in a little pile by her feet, since long untied from around her body. She feels tired, but also kind of relieved. She can’t deny that it was actually nice to cry her frustration out. Against an almost-stranger’s chest, but still.

“Don’t mention it, it’s over. And besides, if I don’t leave I’ll probably end up in danger again.”  
The Doctor’s eyes widen at that.  
“But-”  
Rose sighs.  
“Like I said, I haven’t decided yet. I do like it here, you know.”  
“Yeah?”  
“Yes! It’s a beautiful building, a beautiful island and everyone’s being so nice. It’s not that I want to leave, not in that way. Or I want to, but not… Oh, it’s just... ”  
“It’s complicated?” he guesses.  
“Kind of, yeah”, she admits.  
They share a silent, understanding smile.

The moment is almost oddly peaceful: the only sound is the wind, the grass is soft under Rose’s hands and it smells just like you’d imagine grass smelling during the summer. The blonde finds herself sighing in content, her head suddenly lolling over to the side and ending up resting against the Doctor’s shoulder. He tenses up, suprised. She’s just about to move away from his personal space, when she feels a very careful arm reaching in behind her back. The Doctor’s got his right arm wrapped around her, and now he’s slowly and surely pulling her closer.

“What?” Rose hums, suddenly very relaxed.  
“You looked like you needed a hug”, he explains.  
“I wouldn’t call this a hug, though”, she tells him innocently.  
“Then what would you call it?” he wonders.  
“A cuddle. We’re cuddling”, she annunces.  
“Well, maybe you needed a cuddle”, he murmurs, kissing her forehead.  
“I think I did, this is really nice”, Rose giggles, moving impossibly closer to him.

They stay like that: in the grass, under the tree, bodies pressed together. No one says anything. No óne wants to say anything. They are both perfectly happy with just being in each other’s company.

“I wanna try again”, Rose blurts out.  
And just like that, the spell’s broken: the Doctor snaps his previously closed eyes open, his face full of confusion.  
“Hmm?” he hums, and it seems like he doesn’t wanna move at all.  
“The… Thing”, she tries to explain, gesturing vaguely at the rope at her feet.  
“Oh”, is all that escapes the Doctor’s mouth.

Rose decides to take the initiative, standing up and grabbing the rope. The Doctor follows her movements with his eyes, grabbing her hand when she reaches it out to help him up. He offers to carry the rope for her, and she silently agrees.

“Why?” he asks, twisting the rope around his fingers.  
“Why what?”  
“Why do you wanna do this?”  
“I already told you!”  
“Yes, I know that...”  
“Then why are you asking?”  
“Cause… You just freaked out, and I didn’t think you wanted to give it another go. I thought you were too scared, you know. Or… No, I didn’t. I’m just saying… I worry about you. Yes, that’s it! I’m worried, and that’s why I asked. I want to make sure you are alright, that is. Not that I think you’re cause, I’ve got a feeling you’re very brave. Though, I do-”  
“Doctor!” Rose yelps, interrupting him.  
“Yes?”  
“You’re rambling”, she giggles.  
“Oh. Sorry.”

She can’t help but laugh a little. He honestly looks a little insulted, but doesn’t say anything. They share a silent, knowing glance and then they walk over to the spot where they originally planned to try it. It was Rose’s idea, since she can’t walk with her shoes in that soft sand anyway. The Doctor did ask if she’s sure this place wouldn’t give her any unwanted flashbacks, but she assured him that it was fine.

  
***

  
“How about here?” Rose asks, looking around.  
“Here’s brilliant! If it’s alright with you, that is.”  
She simply smiles at that, takes the rope from the Doctor’s hands and wraps it around her waist before tying a knot. Her hands isn’t as shaky this time, and it’s easier. The Doctor grabs the other end of the rope, wrapping it around his wrist a few times to make sure he won’t lose his grip.

“Alright?” the Doctor asks.  
Rose grabs the rope tied around her, checking the tightness to make sure it won’t slip off her body or anything.  
“Alright”, she confirms.  
“Ready?”  
“Mhm.”  
He grabs the rope even tighter, watching as she bends down to unclasp her shoes. She pauses, looking up at him.  
“Don’t let me go”, she tells him, voice cold and hard.  
“Never”, he assures her, his voice full of softness and awe and promises.  
Satisfied with his answer she smiles, undoing the last few clasps.

The feeling of the ground no longer being under her feet makes Rose panic slightly, but she pushes all the anxiety down as she slowly rises higher. She holds her breath, eyes fixed on the ground as it gets further and further away. At one point she reaches her arms down, like she would somehow be able to grab onto the ground and pull herself back down. Of course, that isn’t possible.

Right when she’s about to scream in panic, the rope stretches out all the way and she isn’t rising any further. After glancing down it hits her that she isn’t as high as she first thought, seven feet at the most. The Doctor must’ve made sure not to let out so much rope, in case she would’ve freaked out or something.

She isn’t freaking out, though. She isn’t doing anything at all, really. She’s just hanging in the middle of the air, her arms at her sides. Her hair flows in the wind, but she isn’t going anywhere. The rope is keeping her where she is, without fail.

Without having any reason to do so, Rose lifts her arms up and holds them out like they were a bird’s wings.  
“You okay up there?” the Doctor calls from the ground below her.  
“Yeah, no worries!” she tells him, not really able to put her feelings into words.

Thing is, she can barely define her current feelings for herself. This might be the oddest feeling ever. There’s that constant fear she’s gonna fall, and at the same time there’s the feeling of complete freedom. Like a mixed fight-or-flight-reflex. Thing is, the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach is worth it. It’s worth the feeling of the wind all around her, it’s worth being able to wiggle her toes and kick her feet back and forth in the air. It’s worth feeling like nothing in the world can stop her from doing anything.

After a moment, she requests to be pulled back down. The Doctor obeys her request, reeling the rope in and slowly bringing her closer to him. It takes a bit of a struggle, but with his hands on her shoulders he manages to guide Rose’s body down until her feet ends up in her shoes again. She’s quick with re-clasping them, before untying the rope.

“So, how was that?” the Doctor asks, insecurity written all over his face.  
Rose smiles.  
“It was… Different.”  
“Good different or bad different?”  
“I think… Good different. Yes. Definitely good different.”  
He beams at her, opening his arms. She gladly welcomes the hug.  
“Thank you”, she mumbles into the skin of his neck.  
“My pleasure”, he says happily.

She can’t resist the urge to reach up and run her fingers through his hair, so that’s what she does. The locks are soft under her fingertips, like feathers or down. He makes a small noise at her action, something she associates with a cat’s purring. He blinks at her, confused.  
“What are you doing?” he wonders, amused.  
“Dunno, just… Like your hair”, she giggles.  
“Is that so?” he asks, fondly.  
“Yes!”

Rose doesn’t know where her next impulse came from. It might be because he’s looking so cute, or maybe because it felt so nice to touch his hair. Or maybe it’s got something to do with him helping her. Or it might be a result of all three. It doesn’t matter right now, anyway.

What matters is the fact that she grabs the Doctor’s tie - yes, the man is wearing a tie - and kisses him. It’s not one of those long kisses, just a quick peck before she pulls away again. He doesn’t say anything, his eyes wide as he steps back, running his hands over his face.

In that very moment, Rose regrets every decision she’s ever made.


	10. Letters from home

“And where in the name of birds have you two been?”

Rose and the Doctor are met by Clara as they return to the school. The ymbryne’s standing on the porch, arms crossed and tapping her foot impatiently. The Doctor clears his throat.  
“Sorry, miss Oswald. So sorry, miss Oswald. It was my fault. I kind of forget time”, he rambles, walking up so he’s standing in front of Rose.  
Clara sighs.  
“In that case, Doctor, I’m happy to point out that time still passes even if you can’t remember it”, she informs the pair.  
Rose can’t stop her giggle at that comment, but when Clara looks at her she turns serious.  
“It’s my fault as well”, she murmurs, eyes glued to the ground.  
Clara nods.  
“It doesn’t matter who’s fault it was, what matters is that you were gone for almost one hour and I had no idea where you were”, she says, walking forward to snatch the rope out of the Doctor’s hands.  
“It’s not like I’m a kid anymore”, Rose blurts out.  
“Rose! The only reason I said that is cause I care about you. All of you. Now get inside, we’ll discuss this later.”

  
***

  
For some unknown reason, Clara’s gathered the others in the sitting room. They are sitting either on the couches or on the floor, their eyes glued to the door as it’s pushed opened. Rose quickly finds a spot to sit, on the floor with her back resting against a couch. She pulls her legs up and hugs her knees to her body, not reacting as the Doctor sits down next to her.

Clara enters the room, carrying a cardboard box which she places on the table. Removing the lid she takes out the content for everyone to see: a bundle of envelopes in different colors and sizes.  
“Kids, the mail arrived this morning!” she announces.  
At first everyone seems confused, until they realize what it’s about. Turns out Rose wasn’t the only one to send a letter home. Clara hands out one envelope to each one of the young peculiars, and they are all quick with ripping them open. In the corner of her eye, Rose sees how Amy ignites a tiny flame on her fingertip and sweeps it across the top of her envelope. It’s not enough for the paper to catch fire, but it’s just enough for it to rip apart smoothly.

“Hold on, just… You said no one else knew about this place, and yet you’ve got a mailman coming over!” Jenny points out, drawing everyone’s attention to her.  
“I never said the mailman was normal”, Clara informs her.  
Amelia perks up.  
“Maybe he’s a vampire!”  
Amy shakes her head.  
“Vampires aren’t real, sweetie”, she tells her sister.

Jenny turns to Clara again, bringing up the conversation again.  
“Okay, but, who is it?”  
Clara laughs a little.  
“I can’t tell you who it is, you mu-”  
“Is it like Harry Potter?” Martha asks suddenly, her eyes more or less glowing with excitement.  
“Harry Potter?” Clara questions, obviously not seeing any connection between the two subjects.  
“Yes! You know, how they use owls to carry letters everywhere. You must know that! That’s probably how she got out all of those invitation letters. Yes, that must be it!”  
“Interesting theory”, the Doctor comments, making Martha beam like a schoolgirl with a crush.

Rose rips open the envelope marked with her name, unfolding the letter.

_My dearest Rose!_

_First of all, I want to tell you how happy I am that you’ve got this chance. I’ve been scared ever since you were born, ever since I knew you were different. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew I would always love you. I still do, sweetheart._

_I hope you’re happy over there, and get what you deserve. I also hope everyone’s being nice to you, cause that’s also what you deserve. I was so happy when I got your letter, but I knew you hadn’t forgot about your old mom._

_I’m very aware that I havn’t been able to nor had the knowledge to give you the help, support and education you need, but now you are with people who can give you that. Whenever I miss you like hell, that’s what I tell myself. It’s a comfort. And yes, I do miss you like hell already. It feels wierd, coming home to the flat and you not being there. It’s okay if you don’t miss me the same way, you are probably having so much fun. Learning new things, getting to know new friends… All of that._

_Of what I understand from your letter, you like it here. I was so happy when I read that. I’m happy to know that you’re happy, sweetheart. You must know that._

_Things are alright here at home, there’s really not much to tell. The flat is empty without you, that’s all. And quiet. And lonely. I know you’re not on another side of the planet, but still… I miss you. But if that place wants you happy, I want you to stay there for as long as they allow you. For as long as you want._

_Love, mum_

Rose clutches the paper in her hands, her eyes roaming over the handwritten words over and over. For some unknown reason, there’s a lump in her throat. A lump that’s slowly growing. She exhales deeply, closing her eyes. She leans back against the couch, allowing herself to relax a little. Her mum is happy. Happy that she’s here, at this school. Happy that she’s happy. There’s only one small problem: Rose isn’t sure if she’s happy.

She opens her eyes again, looking around the room. That’s when she notices something isn’t what it should: everyone there’s reading their letter, except the Doctor. When she thinks about it, Rose can’t even remember him being given a letter. Maybe he didn’t send one, she figures. He’s simply sitting there, not doing anything, his hands resting in his lap. She can’t resist looking over at him, to see if he looks sad or anything. He really doesn’t look as upset as someone would look if their family didn’t bother contacting them.

“Didn’t you get any letter?” she finds herself asking, quietly.  
He shrugs, like it’s not a big deal at all.  
“Really though, Doctor? Why would they do that? I mean, your family must miss you! Right?”  
“Nah, I highly doubt that. Nice of you to try, though.”  
The conversation is apparently over, and Rose doesn’t feel like re-starting it. She looks at her own letter again, re-reading it for the third-or-something-time.

  
***

  
There’s a fire burning in the fireplace, casting a soft golden light over the sitting room. Despite not being here for very long, Rose has really started to appreciate the evenings: usually they all sit quietly in the sitting room, enjoying their individual activities. It’s a great opportunity to clear your mind, to just think about stuff.

Rose is sitting on the floor, her eyes closed as she concentrates on the soft crackling from the fire. The noise is really relaxing. Her mind’s already wandering, since there is a lot to think about.

The thing on her mind right now, however, is the letter from Jackie. Jackie, who wants her to stay here and take this chance. Who wants her to be happy. She can’t leave, then. If she did, Jackie would only be disappointed, maybe even hurt. She wouldn’t be happy, that’s for sure. And Rose doesn’t want her to be sad. Who would want that? Who would want their own mother to be unhappy?

No one. No one would want that. Every person in the entire world wants their own mum to be happy. And every person in the entire world would probably do just about anything to make her happy.

Right when she’s sure she’s about to make some sort of decision, the doors leading out to the hallway are pushed open. In comes Amelia, running with her cheeks wet with tears. Jenny follows close behind her, though there’s no obvious evidence that the blonde has been crying. The two young girls runs straight over to Clara, the ymbryne’s face filling with concern as she kneels down to their eye level.

“She said I’m stupid!” Amelia cries.  
Clara sighs.  
“Why did you do that?” she asks Jenny sharply.  
Jenny simply shakes her head.  
“No no, I never said she was stupid”, she tries to explain.  
“Then what did you say?”  
Most of Jenny’s confidence seems to die, like she’s very aware of how rude whatever she said is.  
“Jenny…?” Clara breaths out.  
“She said my peculiarity’s stupid”, the young redhead mutters, and it becomes clear that she’s crying of annoyance or frustration rather than sadness.

Clara freezes in place, her breath coming out in quick huffs.  
“Jenny, why-? Why would you do that? That is the one thing I do not tolerate, you know. I’ve talked about this so many times, and you guys haven’t even been here that long. You do not, ever, make someone feel bad nor weird nor useless because of their gift. Is that understood?”  
Jenny gives a quick nod, and that seems to be enough for Clara, who turns to Amelia.  
“And you… Remember that speech you held when I had my first lesson?”  
Amelia nods.  
“Great speech, that was! Just like you are great.”  
Amelia giggles, shaking her head.  
“No, I’m not even joking. You are. And, don’t let anyone tell you anything else? Alright? Cause you. Are. Wonderful.”  
At the end of that sentence Clara gently pokes Amelia in the chest with her middle finger, making her giggle. She then stands back up, sighing deeply.

“Everything clear, girls?” she asks.  
The two girls nod in union. Clara claps her hands together happily.  
“Great! Now go and play! And be nice, alright?”  
They share a wordless nod once again, Jenny turning to Amelia.  
“I’m sorry”, she says in a small voice, her eyes glued to the floor.  
Amelia mutters something that sounds like “it’s okay”, and they both leave the room together.

“You’re good with kids”, the Doctor comments.  
Clara smiles.  
“Former teacher, you know. Still a teacher, actually. In a way, at least...”  
“Oh, it can’t be that much of a difference!”  
“You’d be suprised. Try to get a group of normal fifth graders to sit still while you go through English grammar.”

Rose watches them from her spot on the floor as they share a laugh. She really doesn’t feel like moving right now, so she figures she’s just gonna sit there and relax for a bit.

Yes, that sounds like a good idea.


	11. The boy no one could see

After breakfast the next day, Clara gathers the kids in the garden behind the school building. She paces back and forth in front of them a few times, preparing what she’s going to say.  
“Hello, kids. I suspect a few of you are going to protest now, but believe me: I do know what I’m doing. So, since you all seem to know what you can do, I thought we could have a look at what you can’t do.”  
Just like she thought, her explaination’s followed by a mixture of whines and confused noises.  
  
“I can’t crawl around the ceiling like an insect”, Jack says, reaching his hand into the air.  
Clara lets out a little laugh.  
“Not that kind of stuff! Just- Your limits. In other words, you need to be aware of your weaknesses, or at what point your peculiarity doesn’t work as well.”  
“But why?” he asks.  
Clara hesitates a little, thinking a bit before answering that.

 “It might not sound like a very good idea right now, but it is. By knowing your weakness, you will understand your abilities better. You will also know what to work with, and if there’s anything you can get better at.”  
The students look at each other, still seeming a bit confused. They seem more comfortable with that thought. Clara smiles.

 “Alright, who’d want to start?” she asks.  
There’s no reply, nothing. Finally, River decides to break the ice by slowly raising her hand. Clara’s pleased, pointing at the young telekinetic. The girl in question takes a few steps forward, so she’s standing a bit in front of the others. They automatically form a little circle around her, eager to see what’s going to happen.

 “So, what do I do?” she asks her teacher.  
“Pick something heavy. Say, that stone. And just, see if you can move it. C’mon, concentrate! Right now, it’s just you and that boulder. No one else is here.”  
River clenches her fists, her eyes fixing on said boulder in front of her. At first, nothing happens. Then, it lifts from the ground. First one inch, then two. Slowly. It’s obvious that it takes a lot of effort from River: her breathing’s ragged and her entire body is so tense. The rock slowly rises a little higher.

 The small ring of spectators breaks into cheers of encouragement. River jumps as the loud noise reaches her ears, the rock falling to the ground with a loud thump. She curses under her breath, losing her balance for a second. Martha hurries forward to help her, and River grabs her arm for support.

 “Let me try again”, she gasps, turning to Clara.  
Clara shakes her head.  
“Oh no, not a chance.”  
“But-”  
“River, you’re exhausted. You should probably sit down, rest a little. Everyone’s got limits, peculiar or not. Anyone would’ve had trouble moving that rock, you know. It’s huge.”  
“I wouldn’t”, Jenny says, taking a step forward like she’s very prepared to prove her point.  
“Good for you”, Amelia mutters.  
She’s been annoyed with her friend ever since the previous day, when she called her backmouth stupid. Clara did lecture both of them on how important it is to not to treat someone different or badly simply because that person’s… Well, different. Still, there’s not many excuses for what Jenny said.

 River follows Clara’s suggestion with a sigh of defeat, letting Martha lead her out of the ring of people and taking a seat in the grass. Clara looks over at the two to check if they are doing alright, and once she’s satisfied they are she turns to Jenny.

“What about your strength, Jenny? Do you have any limits you know about?” she asks the small blonde.  
Jenny hesitates, like she’s thinking really hard, before shaking her head.  
“Nah”, she replies simply.

 Clara keeps looking at Jenny, like she’s trying to force out some sort of honest answer from her. But Jenny stands her ground, absolutely positive that her peculiarity hasn’t got any sort of limit or weakness. Clara can’t do much, then. She nods, crossing her arms over her chest.

 “Alright, then”, she says, gesturing at the boulder River failed to move only a minute ago.  
Jenny accepts the challenge without even hesitating, making her way over to the boulder. It’s almost twice her size, if not more. That doesn’t seem to scare her off in any way, though: Jenny puts her small hands underneath it and picks it up. Her legs does wobble a bit as she stands back up, holding the rock into the air like it’s some sort of prize she’s just won.

 And she doesn’t put it down. She holds it above her head, arms straight up. Her gaze is focused on something in the distance, maybe an imaginary dot among the clouds. She focuses on her breathing, in and out and in and out. Her arms shakes a little, but she quickly re-gains the control of them.

 Rose looks over at the Doctor. He’s standing with his hands shoved down his pockets, all his focus on Jenny. It’s obvious he isn’t paying any attention to her.

 They haven't spoken a word since yesterday, and they’ve only said a few things to each other since the kiss. That stupid, damned, stupid kiss that ruined everything! Why does she always have to ruin everything? If it hadn’t been for that silly little impulse, everything would’ve been back to normal between them. Or, normal and normal… They’d still be talking, at least. It wouldn’t be like this, all ignoring each other.

 As she returns to watch little Jenny hold up the rock, her thoughts goes back to the idea Clara planted in her mind. The thought about leaving. The thought of-

Said thought is interrupted by a thump, followed by an ear-shattering yell. Without warning Jenny’s arms gave in and the huge rock fell from her grip, landing right on her foot. Her face twists up in pain and she somehow manages to work up enough energy to push the rock away from her foot, before bursting into tears.

  
***

  
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but you need to hold still.”  
Jenny nods, crying out as Martha lays a hand on her damaged leg. The limb slowly goes all numb and warm, a faint glow surrounding it. Her earlier pained expression turns into one of fascination as she watches Martha work her magic. The older eventually stands back up from beside the bed, rubbing her hands together.

 “Alright, that should do it. For a while. I’ve never worked with anything broken before, but I should be able to fix it. I think...”  
“Thank you”, Jenny says in a whisper.  
Martha replies with a soft headshake.  
“No worries”, she promises, smiling sweetly before turning to leave the room.  
It’s not long before Clara appears in the doorway, looking concerned.

 “I get it, I’m not indestructible”, she mutters.  
The ymbryne smiles, but it looks forced.  
“I thought we’d have enough accidents by now”, she sighs.  
“Sorry”, Jenny mumbles, looking down at her foot.  
“You have absolutely nothing to apologize for”, Clara tells her.  
She throws her head back against the pillow, groaning. The sudden movement causes a wave of pain flowing through her foot, despite the fact that Martha took away must of the previous pain.

 Clara walks further into Jenny’s dorm, hesitating a second before sitting down on the foot of the bed. Jenny does attempt to pull her legs up to give her more space, but it seems to be too painful. She settles with just moving sideways a bit.

 “No one is indestructible, no matter if they seem to think so”, Clara says.  
Jenny nods.  
“I noticed that”, she says, nodding at her faintly glowing foot.  
Clara pushes a lock of her brown hair behind her ear, swallowing.  
“Well, I should send you home. Or, at least let your parents know you’re hurt. They’d want to know, you know.”  
Fear takes over Jenny’s face, the girl shaking her head.  
“No!” she exclaims.  
Clara sighs.  
“Jenny, it’s only right that they are informed. I think th-”  
“They won’t see it”, Jenny replies, voice blank.  
“Why? Are they away somewhere?”

Little Jenny looks deep into Clara’s eyes, like she’s somehow trying to see her thoughts.  
“They aren’t here anymore.”

  
***

  
Rose yawns, dropping down on the couch. She isn’t sleepy, not really. She’s more tired, actually. And concerned. The image of little Jenny, sobbing as she’s carried away, seems to be forever locked in her mind. That’s no suprise, really.

 “You doing okay?”  
She looks up from the floor to see Jack looking at her. He’s smiling as he walks over to her. She sighs.  
“I guess, yeah. Just tired”, she tells him.  
“You sure? You look a little-”  
“What?” she questions.  
“A little like you might be in shock.”  
Rose groans.  
“No no no, it’s nothing like that.”  
“Hm”, he replies.

“What’s wrong with you, then?” the blonde decides to ask him.  
“What are you talking about?” he asks, now playing with the hem of his shirt nervously.  
“Jack...”, Rose says, basically demanding an answer.  
“Alright, alright...”

Jack takes a deep breath, looking around like he’s making sure no one but Rose can see him. Once he’s satisfied no one can he lets his bretelles slide down his shoulders before taking a shaky breath, slowly pushing his pants down.

Rose can’t help but shriek, making a move to cover her eyes. But there’s no need for that.

Instead of his ankles, the visible part of Jack’s body now ends by his waist.


	12. Games and confessions

Amelia looks down at the paper in her hands. She’s aware she isn’t the best artist, but hopefully Jenny will like it. She did spend hours working on the drawing, and she did put her heart and soul into making it as pretty as possible.

She hesitates outside Jenny’s dorm, staring at the closed door. She hugs the drawing close to her chest before knocking softly. She waits for a reply at first, but when she doesn’t get any she slowly pushes the door open.

The room is dark, the light switched off. There’s a colorful backpack standing next to the bed. The bed in which Jenny’s laying.

She’s on her side, and she appears to be sleeping. One of her arms are hanging out from under the cover, and a small lock of her hair is covering her left eyelid. Her foot’s glowing - yes, glowing - with a faint, golden light. It’s kind of hard to spot, but it’s there. It’s sort of wrapped around the foot, like a bandage or a cast.

Amelia makes a move to walk further into the room, but stops herself. Maybe she should let Jenny sleep, if she’s hurt and all. Still, she should leave the drawing. She’ll have something to make her happy when she wakes up.

Tiptoeing over to the bed as quietly as she possibly can, Amelia places her drawing on the bedside table. She turns around, and is just about to make her way out again when she feels Jenny stir. She freezes in the middle of a step, barely even breathing in fear that she’s woken the sleeping girl. In the corner of her eye she sees how Jenny rolls over and grabs the drawing, looking at it with tired eyes. A tiny smile lights up her face as she sees the signature on the bottom.

Still, it takes another few seconds for Jenny’s sleep-fuzzy brain to register that Amelia’s actually in the room with her. When she does, however, a smile makes its way onto her lips. She slowly sits up, but pauses her movements as she feels a slight pain in her foot.

“You’re awake”, Amelia tells her softly, praying that she isn’t the reason for her waking up.  
Jenny gives a small smile, her head dropping back onto the pillow.  
“Thanks for the drawing”, she says sweetly.  
Amelia returns her smile.  
“How…? How are you feeling?”  
Jenny sighs, her eyes falling shut.  
“Not that bad, though. I mean, it still hurts a bit, but it’s better. Martha did a… thing”, she says, vaguely gesturing at her foot, which is still surrounded by that golden glow.  
Amelia nods, swallowing. The fact that Jenny feels better makes her happy, honestly. Despite what the blonde said about her peculiarity the previous day.

There’s a silence between them as they both try to figure out something to say. Like it would be some kind of distraction, Jenny looks over at the drawing once more. It’s actually really pretty: bright green grass and a even bluer sky. The centerpiece have to be the very happy-looking stickman, its thin arms holding up what’s probably supposed to be a rock into the air. There’s a few lines of yellow going down from the top of the stickman’s head. Hair. Of course it’s hair, Jenny thinks to herself.

From Amelia is written at the bottom left of the paper, each letter irregular and in a different color than the previous one.

While Jenny’s looking at her present, Amelia finds the perfect opportunity to sneak out. She doesn’t wanna disturb her more, after all. She shuts the door behind her as quietly as she can, turning around to start making her way downstairs instead. And she basically collides with Amy.

Her older sister is quick to catch her before she trips, lifting her up to carry her downstairs. Amelia grabs a bit of Amy’s shirt in her fist.  
“How is she doing?” Amy asks carefully, like she’s sensing it’s a sensitive object.  
Amelia leans her head against Amy’s shoulder.  
“Better. I think”, she answers shortly.  
“That’s a good thing.”

Amy puts her down once they’ve entered the sitting room, and Amelia looks around to see what the others are up to. Nothing, it turns out. They aren’t really doing anything. They’re just sitting (or standing) there, looking sad. It’s like there’s this thick layer of sadness over the entire room, a sort of coldness. Not that it’s a suprise, though. Sadly.

“Why can’t we… do something?” Amelia suggests, though most of her confidence fades from her voice as she speaks.  
“Hide and seek!” Jack basically screams, jumping down from the couch where he’s been sitting.  
“Without Jenny!?” Martha gasps.  
“What’s wrong with that?”  
“I don’t know, I just thought it sounded a little rude. You know, doing something you know one of the group can’t take part in!”  
“I’m sure you can all play if you want to”, Clara tells them.

“Brilliant! I’ll count!” the Doctor volunteers, earning a pretty confused look from Rose as he stands up.  
The blonde ends up following his example, rising from the couch. It would be nice to have some kind of activity instead of just sitting there, she has to admit that. Especially since it’s been raining for like two hours now, so no one wants to go outside unless it’s absolutely necessary. The others seem to agree on that as well: they have moved from their respective spots, like they are silently preparing to run and hide somewhere.

As the Doctor slowly starts counting down from ten, sitting behind one of the couches with both of his hands covering his face so he won’t be able to see where everyone are going, Rose feels a rush of something through her body. She’s not sure what to call it, though. Excitement, adrenaline or something like that. Happiness is a big part of this mix of emotions, she’s at least sure of that. It’s not very suprising, actually: as a kid, she never played this game with her friends. That’s not so suprising either: she didn’t have any friends. The few she did consider friends (the very few of her classmates that didn’t run away when they learned she was different) wasn’t allowed to hang out with her anymore once their parents found out she was peculiar. Normals, terrified of everything they doesn’t understand…

Breaking free from her train of thoughts, she focuses on finding a good hiding spot as quick as possible.

She thinks about heading upstairs, but decides against it: the stairs are already crowded with people trying to get up there, and it’ll probaly be one of the first places where the Doctor’ll look. She sets off running down the corridor instead (at least as much running as she can manege with shoes made of lead.)

She ends up in the library, where she (as wierd as it sounds) hasn’t spent so much time. She’s been here once when she went exploring on one of the first days. Letting the heavy door close behind her, she allows herself to have a look around. The wodden floor creaks a bit under the weight of her feet as she walks further into the room.

On both sides there’s bookcases, all marked with a different letter of genre. It’s not the usual, like scfi-fi or fantasy. _Loops_ one label read. _Peculiar animals_ another one reads. Rose finds herself drawn to that particular bookcase, and she walks over to it to read some of the titles. The books there seem to cover information about all sort of animals, even hybrids. Not that Rose was aware something like that existed.

She’s brushing her thumb over a bright red book with _In the mind of a talking dog_ written across the back, when something else catches her attention. Naturally, she abandons the books to investigate.

The source of her curiosity turns out to be a leaf. A pretty big leaf, shades of green and brown blending together to create a beautiful pattern. The longer she looks at it, the more aware she becomes of the urge to touch it. That wouldn’t be any problem, if it wasn’t for the fact that the leaf’s in a small glass jar. The handwritten label on the side reads _the most important leaf in history_. Rose finds her hand moving towards the lid, her fingers closing around it-

The sound of footsteps outside the door makes her jump, almost knocking the jar of the shelf where it’s standing. It must be the Doctor! He must’ve finished counting without her noticing!

Now panicing slightly, Rose looks around. There’s a lot of bookshelfs, maybe she could hide behind one of those? No no, it would be far too obvious. She needs something better for her first ever game of hide and seek. Something like…

... _that_!

Her eyes land on the many beams in the ceiling. Someone could use them to climb across the ceiling. Someone who doesn’t weight anything, who naturally floats up into the air.

The perfect hiding place!

Pushing away all the reasons why she shouldn’t, Rose reaches down and frees herself from her shoes. She holds her breath as she leaves the floor, the ceiling getting closer and closer every second. When the lowest beam is within her reach she grabs it, pulling herself up until her front’s pressed against it. She looks down at her shoes one last time, like she was saying goodbye to them or something.

“I can’t fall, I can’t fall, I can’t fall”, she whispers to herself as she starts climbing towards the door.  
It’s not too difficult once she’s got used to it: she just has to pretend she’s in one of those science fiction movies and that the gravity has shifted.

She stops moving once she’s above the door, clinging to one of the thickest beams despite not needing to. She holds her breath as the doorknob turns, the door opening. It is, just like she expected, the Doctor.

“Hah!” he exclaims, her shoes being one of the first things he sees when he enters the room.  
He looks up, probably expecting to find her floating right above them. When he doesn’t, he gets very confused very quickly. It’s pretty adorable, honestly. The urge to prank him is simply too strong: bracing her feet against the beam Rose pushes herself down towards him, her hand landing on his shoulder.  
“Boo!”

She can’t say she’s sure she’s ever heard a teenage boy scream that loud. He spins around, nearly punching her right in the face in his attempt to get rid of any kind of danger. Once he realizes it’s only her she’s already well on her way back up, but he grabs her hand and yanks her down towards him. With a little too much force.

He ends up losing his balance, pulling her down with him as he lands on his back. He pulls her close, holding her pressed against him to be sure that she won’t fly up again.  
“That was not a very nice thing to do”, he whispers.  
“Yeah? And what are you gonna do about it?”  
He doesn’t answer her question. At least not with words. Instead, he kisses her.

It’s no quick peck this time. It’s slow and warm and nothing but them. It’s all butterflies and funny feelings. It’s all happiness. Rose could definitely get used to being happy.

But then, they have to pull away. Their faces remain very close though, and they just stare into each other’s eyes.  
***  
“I’ve been an complete and utter idiot.”

Those words pulls Rose from her trance-like state. She brushes away some of the hair that’s been blown out in front of her face, looking down at him. He’s got the end of the rope wrapped around his closed fist, his other hand holding a higher part of the rope and in that way controlling how high up she is. At her confusion he gently pulls her down towards him, like he wants to be sure she can hear him.

“Why would you say something like that?” she asks once she’s almost at his eye level.  
“Because… Well, it’s the truth. That’s not how someone should have behaved after their first kiss.”  
“What are you talking about? You barely said a word to me!” Rose protests.  
“Exactly! That’s my point: I should’ve talked to you, told you how I feel and stuff.”  
“I know now, don’t I? I mean, we could just forget that and call the library-incident our first kiss”, Rose suggests, giggling a little.  
He beams at her, nodding.  
“That, my dear, sounds like a very good idea.”  
***  
“Can I ask you something?”  
“Depends. Is it private?”  
“Kind of, yeah. No, it’s actually very private.”  
“Oh. Is it about my peculiarity?”  
“No...”  
“Okay… Oh.”  
“What?”  
“It’s about my family, isn’t it? You’re wondering why I didn’t get a letter when everyone else got one?”

Rose nods silently, like saying it outloud would make it worse. She finds herself staring at a tiny spot in the green grass, not daring to look at him. She hears the Doctor inhale as if to speak, but she interrupts him before he’s got a chance to say anything.  
“It’s alright, you don’t have to tell me. You know, I understand if you don’t want me to know. I mean, it’s your private life and I really shouldn’t-”  
“Rose.”  
“What?”  
“Stop it.”  
“What?”  
“I want to tell you. It would be nice for someone here to know.”

Rose moves closer to him, leaning her head against his shoulder. She looks up at him, smiling encouraging. He takes a deep breath, bracing himself.  
“My parents seemed to know there was something wrong with me before I knew it myself. I guess normals hasn’t got two hearts, that’s probably just a peculiar thing. Th-”  
“Doctor?”  
“Yes?”  
“Sorry to interrupt you, but no one’s got two hearts.”  
“But-”  
In confusion he reaches out, placing a hand over her chest. Right where her other heart should be. Why isn’t it there? She is peculiar, that’s more than obvious! It should be there!

“Why isn’t it there?” he cries, grabbing her hand and pressing her palm against his hearts.  
She gasps as she feels the dubble beats, her mouth falling open.  
“Doctor? Calm down, okay? Look at me!”

He does as he’s asked, pulling back enough to look her in the eye. Her smile calms him from the panic of what he just discovered. She grabs his hand, and that somehow gives him the strength to continue.

“Like I said, I’ve got two hearts. Always thought that was a pretty commong thing among peculiars, but I guess I was wrong. Anyway… When I was three, a threw a fit. A fit which resulted in me throwing this yellow energy-thing at my dad. The result? They gave me away to a circus. I did have an actual name back then - David - but apparently that didn’t suit an circus preformer. No, I was re named. Don’t ask me why they choose the Doctor, they just did.

Anyways… I don’t think you can say I was happy there, cause I wasn’t. I was treated badly, and the only reason they wanted me was for the money the show brought in. The freak show. That’s right, they saw me as a freak.”

That’s when he stops talking, and Rose realizes his story’s finished. She wraps him in a hug, pulling him close to her. He lets out a long breath, his body slowly relaxing. Rose runs her fingers through his hair, and he sighs happily.

They don’t speak for another hour, they just sit there. Holding each other.


	13. Loops and where to find them

There are many perks that comes with having superhuman abilities. Especially if you’ve got superhuman healing abilities.

Jenny is able to walk in the next few days, with the help of crutches. Since this means she’s able to leave her room, Clara announces they’ll be having a lesson this afternoon. Like expected, that was met by a few protests. Most of the kids enjoyed just having fun, without any most-do’s or any early mornings.

Still, when Clara enters the classroom, everyone’s there. When she enters the room they all direct their full attention towards her, Jenny sitting closest to the door so she’ll have to walk as little as possible.  
“Happy to see you’re up again”, she greets the blonde.  
Jenny replies only with a small wave, but it doesn’t seem like Clara requires any verbal communication at the moment so that’s no problem.

When Clara makes her way over to stand in front of the blackboard, Rose raises her hand into the air to get her attention. Clara does seem a little confused since she hasn’t even began the lesson, but she points at Rose and nods at her. The girl in question has to struggle a bit to remember what to say, but once she does remember she speaks.

“Yes. I’ve just got a really quick question. Earlier, when I was looking for someplace to hide as we played, I found myself in the library. And in there, I found s-”  
“You were in the library?” Clara interrupts, her voice harsh.  
“I didn’t touch anything… Anyway, I found something in there. It was a kind of a leaf, but it was inside this glass jar. And the label on the jar said that it was the most important leaf ever, or something.”  
Clara lets out a long breath, now pacing back and forth at the front of the classroom.  
“It’s not really the most important leaf in history, that’s just a joke I came up with. If I’m gonna be honest, it’s pretty dangerous. That’s why it’s contained inside a jar, and that’s why I never wanted any of you to go in there.”  
“What is it, then?” Amelia asks from the back of the classroom.  
“What is what?” Clara wonders, confused.  
“The leaf? You said it was dangerous.”

The ymbryne pauses her pacing, turning to face her class. She’s got her hands behind her back, bracing herself like she’s about to explain something really complicated.  
“When an ymbryne changes into a bird, the change takes quite a lot of energy. It’s actually so much easier to do if you’re upset. Anyway, all these energy has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is inside the ymbryne. It’s a bit complicated, but basically the energy just kind of burns out after the ymbryne’s turned into a bird, and new energy replaces that one so she’ll be able to change shape again later.

One time when I was younger, I was practicing the art of shape shifting. And that one time, something went wrong. I never turned into a bird, and all that energy still had to go somewhere. It fixed on one of the things closest to me at the moment, which happened to be that leaf. I don’t really know what would happen if someone touched it or took it out of the jar, but what I do know is that shape shifter energy is a very powerful thing, and I don’t want to risk any of you getting hurt in any way. Do you understand?”

That last question is mostly directed at Rose, who nods. Once she’s satisfied they’ve got the message Clara returns to the planning of today’s lesson. She starts with writing some words on the board, mostly to remind her of what to say. Getting everyone’s attention she turns around, facing her students.

“Okay. Who in here can tell me what loops are?”  
A few hands rises into the air.  
“Martha”, Clara decides after letting her eyes roam over them all.  
“Isn’t it one of those things were time’s stopped?” Martha guesses hopefully.  
“Yes and no.. Time still passes within a loop, but it resets every day. Time outside the loop is passing just as time normally does. A loop can exist for over a hundred years with the same people living in it. That’s cause no one ever ages inside a loop. For example: if you enter a loop at fifteen and stay there for twenty years, you’ll still be fifteen after all those years.”

Clara is about to start saying something else, when Jenny raises her hand.  
“Clara-”  
“Hold on a moment, Jenny”, Clara requests softly.  
Jenny does as she’s told, putting her hand back down to rest on her desk. Clara continues:  
“As I was saying, no one within a loop ages. Not so suprising, though. Since every day repeats itself, that means that some events of the day also repeats. One example is the weather: many ymbrynes prefered to make their loops on sunny days, since it will keep being sunny for the rest of… Well, for as long as the loop exists.”

Clara pauses there, turning around to draw on the board. She can’t say she’s happy that the circle didn’t turn out as circle-y as she hoped, but she really hasn’t got any interest in re-drawing it. She instead gets started on writing dates and marking sections of the circle with dots and lines. Taking a step back, admires her work (which she has to say she’s proud of): a messy yet accurate description of a loop.

Turning back to the young peculiars, Clara clears her throat to make sure she’s got everyone’s attention.  
“Yes, I know I’m not the best artist in the world. Yes, I know the circle isn’t perfect. I don’t any of you’ll mind though, right?”  
There’s a few headshakes and praises of her drawing skills in response. Clara smiles, quickly expressing her gratitude before moving on. Pointing to all the different parts of what she’s drawn, she explains:

“The circle you see here represents a loop. Or, more specifically 24 hours. 24 hours which is repeated over and over. Every loop has a so-called closing time, a time of the day where the ymbryne is required to restart it. If not, the loop closes and returns to the state it would’ve been in if the loop was never created. So to speak, time catches up with the loop when it closes. The closing time is usually set sometime in the evening, meaning the loop re-starts in the evening the previous day. This means that the loop’ll be as close to an ordinary day as it possible can be, which makes it easier for the children living there. You can imagine it yourself, how difficult and confusing life would be if you traveled back 24 hours at lunch every day. In some loops, the reset would be like some kind of ritual: all the peculiar children would gather around the ymbryne as she re-started the loop.”

Pausing again, Clara brushes a lock of her brown hair back behind her ear. She swallows, taking a deep breath, trying to decide if she really should say what she’s about to say. Yes, probably. It’s those sort of things they should know, after all.

Inhaling, she starts speaking again:  
“A long time ago, pretty long time, there were a bunch of peculiar scientists who wanted to live forever. They thought that the key to eternal life was to steal an ymbryne’s powers. They kidnapped some ymbrynes and went to test their theory. I guess you could say the experiment failed: they didn’t get eternal life, but instead they all changed. Into… creatures. Monsters, if you will. These creatures were known as Hollowgasts, or Hollows for short. I guess you could say they fed on the souls of peculiars, especially the children. In order to keep all the peculiar children safe, the ymbrynes used their powers to create loops. Since Hollows couldn’t enter the loops, it was the perfect hiding place. The only real downside was the fact that if you left a loop after spending a long time there, the years would catch up with y-”  
“You would die?”

This time it’s Martha who interrupts her. She looks horrified, and so does the others. Clara honestly regrets telling them this, the last thing she wants is to give them nightmares. But, then again, kids aren’t supposed to be that affected by something creepy if they just hear it. Showing them pictures would be a totally different thing…

“Not right away, no. Or, that depends on how much time you spent in the loop without leaving it. If it was only a few years, you’ll only age those years. But, if you lived in a loop for hundreds of years… Well...”  
“But, what happened?”

Now it’s Rose’s voice who pulls Clara back from her thoughts. Clara blinks at her, confused for a moment.  
“What happened to what?”  
“To the monsters! If nobody uses loops anymore the monsters must be gone! What happened?”  
Clara smiles, getting the chair from the corner and placing it in front of the teacher’s desk. Everyone goes quiet, a slight buzz of excitement between them. They all know what this means: story time.

“Once upon a time, many long years ago, there was an island. And on this island there was a children’s home. Everyone on the island thought it had been destroyed by a bomb hundreds of years ago, but that wasn’t the case. They all lived safe and sound, the day preserved in a loop. As you might have guessed by now, they were peculiar. And they weren’t very different from you guys: there was Emma, who could make fire with nothing but her hands. Claire, who ate with a second mouth hidden behind her hair. Olive, who was so light they had to tie a rope around her to keep her from flying off into the sky. And… And Bronwyn, who was so much stronger than she looked. And there was also Jacob, who had a very special gift. You see, Hollows were invisible. But not to Jacob. His peculiarity allowed him to see - and control - the Hollows.

Their headmistress, miss Peregrine, were kidnapped by the Hollows as they planned on trying their experiment again. The children set off to find and rescue their ymbryne. The quest was anything but easy, but with Jacob’s unique ability they did it. The story of miss Peregrine’s peculiar children quickly went to history: how they saved all of peculiardom from the Hollows. There’s even a version of it in the normals’ world, but there it’s believed to be pure fiction.”

While Clara has been talking she has also been looking for something in the drawers in her desk. She seems to have found it now: a book, its front cover a black-and-white photo of a little girl wearing a small crown. There aren’t anything special about her. At least not until you notice her feet, and how they aren’t touching the ground.

“Miss Peregrine’s home for peculiar children”, Clara reads out loud from the title.  
She proceeds to show her class pictures of the children in the book, talking about them. The flying girl on the cover wasn’t flying at all, it turns out. She simply wasn’t wearing her heavy shoes, which caused her to float up from the ground. Just like Rose. Clara explains that if she was gonna be without her shoes for a longer period they had to tie a rope around her waist. Just like Rose.

Looking at little Olive, who helped saving the world, Rose doesn’t feel so different anymore.

[](http://sv.tinypic.com?ref=190a3m)


	14. The perks of being weightless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a TW for blood in this one

It turns out Clara’s got a box with every photograph from that book. She’s happy to let Rose keep the one of Olive (“ _I might need it back for a lesson or something, just so you know_ ”). When Rose goes back up to her dorm that evening, she spends a few minutes just laying in bed and looking at the photo.

It’s probably old, judging by the fact that it’s without color. There’s this small voice in the back of her head, telling her that the girl in the photo might not be like her at all. The picture could simply have been edited, or it was just taken in the middle of a jump. The only real proof for the story is Clara’s words, anyway.

 _No! That is not the case!_ Rose tells herself. She must let herself have this, at least. This story. This knowledge that the little girl on the photo with the same peculiarity as her saved the world. Maybe that means she isn’t totally useless, Rose thinks. That makes her smile.

Before she goes to sleep, she puts the picture under her pillow. She falls asleep with a smile on her lips.

  
***

  
Everyone who’s ever spent any time some kind of school knows that if the weather’s nice, the teacher sort of requires you to be outside during playtime. In some occasions the teachers wants the students to go outside despite the weather not being very lovely. Being home schooled since an early age, Rose’s memories from the actual school aren’t exactly vivid. Still, she’s got memories of being forced to spend time playing outside when she really didn’t want to.  
  
Today, though, things are very different. Firstly, the weather outside is great. Secondly, Clara’s got a very special way when it comes to telling people what to do. Or, it’s not so much telling people what to do. It’s more like suggesting what they should do, or something. It’s actually very hard to explain, but it at least doesn’t involve _forcing_.

A few days ago it was raining, but today the sun is shining. Rose did start her day with a minor headache, but when she heard they were going to spend the day outside instead of just sit there and listen to history or something she felt better. She’s not saying Clara’s lessons are boring or anything, but when your head hurts you’re not really up for it.

To be honest, she’s not up for running around in the garden either.

Rose finds a nice spot in the sun and dumps the blanket she’s carrying on the ground, laying it out flat before sitting down. She took her cardigan off a long time ago, leaving her in a simple, sleeveless dress. The sun light feels really nice on her skin. She thinks about laying down on her back, but decides against it: it would only result in her torso floating up and leaving her in a very uncomfortable position.

The youngest children have began some kind of game which involves chasing each other around. Not Jenny, though. Her entire attention is currently occupied by the red bouncing ball she’s playing with, where she’s sitting on a small rock. She doesn’t look as lonely or sad as you can imagine someone in her current position being, though. There’s a smile on her lips and she looks absolutely focused on the round rubber object in her hands. She switches between rolling the ball in her hands and bouncing it softly against the rock’s surface. Rose is seriously having a hard time believing someone who’s so strong can handle an object so gently.

There’s a movement in the corner of Rose’s eye, very close to her body. She automatically moves away when something touches her arm. The Doctor freezes, holding his hands up like he’s defending himself.  
“Calm down, it’s just me!”  
“Then maybe you should say that before sneaking up on me!”  
“Sorry, sorry...”

He hesitates, like he’s waiting for some kind of permission. Rose nods, moving over so there’s a spot on the blanket for him. He sits down next to her, leaning in to press a quick kiss to her temple. Rose’s first reaction is suprise, then she’s all happy. He makes a move to move away, but she stops him with a hand behind his neck, kissing him.

“I knew it! I knew it!”  
Jenny’s now standing up, the smile lighting up her face. Rose presses her face into the Doctor’s chest in an attempt to hide her blush. In pure excitement, Jenny bounces the small rubber ball with what looks like no effort at all. The ball lands on the ground with a thump so loud Rose thinks it’ll explode. It doesn’t, though. It bounces off the ground, going up, up and up. And up. Until it’s far above the trees. Then it falls back down, landing in one of the tallest trees.

And it’s stuck there.

Jenny stares up at it, like she can make it come back down if she just wants it hard enough. But of course, the ball doesn’t move. Nothing happens, but Jenny doesn’t give up. She keeps looking at it, with such intensity the small rubber object probably would have exploded if she was telekinetic. She isn’t, and nothing happens.

She gives up at last, half running and half limping over to the couple sitting on the blanket.  
“You need some help?” the Doctor offers.  
“It’s too high up for you. We need someone who can fly”, she states.  
She might be stubborn, but she’s not stupid. She turns around, looking at the others who are currently running around chasing each other. Her blue eyes focuses on Clara for a second: she’s a kind of bird, she could fly up there and get the ball down. But no, Clara herself said that ymbrynes doesn’t turn into birds very often.

River? She’s tele-something, she can make things move without touching them. She could make the ball fly back down from the tree! Or she probably could, if she wasn’t so occupied with what she’s doing. There’s a lump in Jenny’s stomach at the thought of asking her. No, that doesn’t seem like such a very good idea.

Sighing, Jenny turns her attention back to Rose and the Doctor. They are sitting close together, Rose’s head on his shoulder. She somehow knew they were in love. She doesn’t know how, she just knew. She thinks it’s got something to do with how they look at each other all the time. It’s like there’s this huge trust between them, something that just comes naturally to them. Kind of like they know something nobody else knows. That might not be too suprising, when she thinks about it. The Doctor did save Rose’s life that time they were on the beach.

Hold on a second…

“You can fly!” Jenny basically yells, her eyes now fixed on Rose.  
“I wouldn’t call it flying”, Rose murmurs, blushing for some reason.  
“But you do! You take off your special shoes and then you can fly!”  
Rose looks up at the tree. The ball isn’t more than a tiny red dot among the bright green leafs. It’s really high up, she realizes. She’s not even sure she’s ever been that high up. She’s never thought about her peculiarity as the ability to fly, she realizes. That makes it sound like some kind of superpower, rather than something that can be annoying. Pretty awesome, actually.

Jenny’s minor outburst has gathered a small audience around them, curious about what’s going on. With several eyes now on her, there’s a sudden and unexpected burst of confidence inside Rose. She finds herself rising to her feet, offering her hand to the Doctor and encouraging him to do the same. He follows her movement, standing beside her. She turns to face him.

“Get the rope, would you?” she requests softly.  
His expression is one of utter confusion. And then, when he gets it, concern.  
“Rose-”  
“I can do it.”  
“Rose-”  
“I can do it!” she insists.  
This time he walks back into the house, following her request.

He returns minutes later, carrying a long piece of rope. Rose turns to Jenny, kneeling down so she’s at the girl’s eye level.  
“Let's get that ball down for you, yeah?” she says, her sudden gentleness suprising even her.  
Jenny beams at that, watching Rose as she steps back and holds her arms up, allowing the Doctor to wrap the rope around her waist and tying it with a dubble knot.

This is it. Rose swallows, looking up at the small object she’s about to retrieve from that tree. That very high tree. Taking a shaking breath, Rose bends down and opens the clasps on her shoes. Her body lifts from the ground, and she automatically reaches up as if to catch the tree once she can reach it. She finds herself looking down at her bare feet for a brief second, but quickly decides that looking up at her destination is a far better idea. Not that she’s afraid of heights or anything, she simply doesn’t enjoy the sight of the ground getting further and further away.

It takes longer than she expected for her body to rise all the way up to the crown of the tree. Once she’s up there she starts working on getting the ball loose. It landed right between two branches, so it takes a bit of effort from Rose to pull it out. Bracing her feet against the bole she grabs as much of the bouncing ball as she can reach, pulling it towards her. It comes loose from in between the two branches with a rubber-y noise, Rose cheering quietly to herself as she holds the small rubber object in her hands.

“I got it!” she exclaims, mostly to inform the Doctor that he can pull her back down.  
What she wasn’t prepared for, however, is the cheers from the ground below her. The Doctor’s already began hauling her down towards him, and she now gets a better look at the small group of peculiars who has gathered around the tree. Something inside her gets all warm: they are all here to watch her simply retrieve an object none of them could reach. A quick look at each and every one of them tells her that their eyes are filled with awe. Awe for her. For what she can do.

She helped them with something. Something that became possible thanks to her ability. Her ability, which she until now has seen as something completely useless and unnecessary. It’s not, she realizes. Not at all, actually. It’s so much more: it’s a part of her, of who she is. Of-

This pretty beautiful moment of feeling needed is suddenly over as the wind gets hold of her, slamming her side against the tree. She cries out as pain shoots up her arm, the small ball falling from her grip. She puts her hand over the spot on her arm which feels like it’s just been stabbed.

The Doctor yells her name, hurrying to pull her down to his eye level.  
“Rose!? Rose!? Rose, are you okay?”  
Rose takes a few deep breaths, trying to sense if anything’s wrong. Her arm hurts like hell, but she’s able to move it so she doesn’t think it’s broken.  
“It’s just a scratch”, she whispers.  
It doesn’t feel like just a scratch, though. She slowly removes her hand from the part that hurts the most, gasping in horror as she sees red stains on her fingers. Blood! The same blood that’s now running down her arm from the small wound.

“You’re bleeding!” the Doctor cries, saying what she’s thinking.  
“You don’t say”, she hisses, biting down on her lip to keep from whimpering.  
Like someone called her name specifically, Martha pushes her way through the tiny crowd. Without waiting for any kind of invitation she begins looking over Rose’s wound, like she’s trying to determine how much power she’ll need to fix it.

“How bad is it?” the Doctor asks anxiously.  
“Doctor!”  
“What?”  
“I’m the one bleeding and you’re freaking out.”  
“Sorry”, he apologizes.  
Rose turns to Martha.  
“Can you fix it?” she asks hopefully.  
Martha smiles sweetly.  
“Of course I can! Might hurt a bit, though.”

Rose happily accepts that condition if it means she gets rid of this pain. The Doctor doesn’t seem to be very fond of that idea, though. He’s quick with letting out disagreeing noises, holding up a hand.  
“Woah, woah. No.”  
“What!?”  
“I’m sorry Martha, but I think I’ll be the one to help Rose. What I mean is, maybe I should be the one to fix the wound. Especially since you said it might hurt an-”  
Rose sighs, obviously annoyed.  
“You’re being rude”, she whispers, leaning closer to him.

The confusion distracts him enough for Martha to place her palm over the wound on Rose’s arm. The blood has created a red line, going down from her upper arm all the way to her hand. Rose has always somehow assumed that she doesn’t have any problem with seeing blood, but she still needs to look away not to feel sick. She finds herself looking at the Doctor, who’s looking at her like you might imagine a tiger mother looking at her kids: very, very protectively.

She wants to tell him that she’s going to be just fine, but the words gets stuck on their way out her mouth as she notices her arm going numb. The pain is still there, but it’s going fainter and fainter by every second. And there’s warmth. A weird, pretty comfortable warmth.

Then the warmth dies out, and the pain is completely gone. Martha smiles for herself, removing her hand from the wound. Or at least what used to be a wound. The stream of red is still there, but no opening in the skin. There’s not even a scar.

“Thank you”, Rose whispers, still staring at her arm.  
“I’m just happy to help”, Martha assures her.  
Now it’s her turn to be the center of attention: everyone gathers around her, their voices melting into each other as they express how “cool” and “awesome” that was, and how “if there were more people like you we wouldn’t need hospitals!”. Martha only laughs at that, but Rose can see how happy she really is.

  
***

  
Later that day, when Rose and the Doctor sneaks away to the beach to have some time for just themselves, Rose realizes that it isn’t the same thing anymore. It used to be really special somehow, like it was their thing and only theirs. It doesn’t feel like that anymore, not after everyone saw her fly up and get that ball. It used to feel like it was somehow their secret, but she guesses that isn’t the case anymore.

Still, that doesn’t reduce the excitement Rose feels as she smiles down at him, her body swaying in the wind. She dared to let him give her a little more rope this time, allowing her to go higher. You get a whole other perspective on things when you look at them from up in the sky, she has realized. She’s able to look out over the sea and the beach. Sometime she sees a bird flying by, and in that moment she likes to pretend she’s a bird as well. She can’t deny how absolutely wonderful it would be to be able to fly freely without any rope or anything.

She catches herself staring out at the water, her mind peacefully blank. The sky is bright blue with only a few fluffy clouds. A sudden whiff of wind pulls her out of her almost non-existing thoughts, and something catches her attention. It’s a dark shape of some kind, and it looks like it’s been hidden under a bush a few meters from the water.  
“What’s that?” she wonders out loud.  
“What’s what?” the Doctor asks.  
“That!” she explains, pointing.

He can’t see it from the ground, it’s too far away. Rose ends up guiding him from above, shouting over the sound of the wind so he’ll know where to turn. It doesn’t take too long for them to find the mysterious object: a boat. A small rowboat, the oars still there. It appears to have been shoved in the bush in a hurry. The Doctor pulls her down to the ground so she can look at it as well. It doesn’t appear to be anything special about it, it’s just a small wooden boat.

“Should we tell Clara?” Rose asks, running her hand over the wooden surface of the boat.  
“Nah.”  
“What? Why not?"   
"It’s just a boat, Rose. It could belong to anyone. It might even be Clara’s. No one knows we’re here, remember?”  
“Right”, the blonde says, trying not to think about the pretty fresh footsteps leading from the boat and into the woods behind the school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GASP! Who's boat is it!? 
> 
> Thanx for reading so far guys <3


	15. Story time

Things gets better and better. Jenny’s able to walk without any kind of support, and the fact that Rose and the Doctor are in some kind of relationship doesn’t seem to shock anyone anymore. In the next few days, life at the Coal Hill Academy is more or less back to normal. Or, it would be completely normal if it wasn’t for how unhappy Jack’s been looking lately.

He might be the reason why Clara chose the specific subject for their next lesson.

Still, it doesn’t seem like the ymbryne wants to tell them the actual reason for it. If there is a reason, that is. It might just be some connection Rose’s brain has made. That seems to happen when you’re tired and a bit hungry. She always used to hate those lessons just before lunch: everyone was just tired and hungry and no one seemed to even want to concentrate. She hasn’t figured out what it is with peculiar kids, if they’ve got extra concentration ability or something. Or, it could simply be the fact that learning about yourself and all your differences is interesting enough to make you forget about your hunger. Whatever it is, it seems to have affected Rose as well: she has actually been sitting still and listening to the teacher. She didn’t even do that when her own mother was her teacher!

Clara has made her way to the front of the classroom and she’s now just standing there, like she’s waiting for something.  

“If you ask me, the very basic knowledge of peculiardom still includes quite a few things. One major ‘thing’ being at least some knowledge of every peculiarity there is. Now don’t worry, I’m gonna be nice to you. I won’t fill your brains with information about every peculiarity, only a few.

For example, today, I’ll be talking about invisibility. It’s the only peculiarity that’s progressive. In other words, there’s no way for a parent to know that their kid has the gift of invisibility until several years later, whe-”  
“Excuse me, Clara, but I disagree with that choice of words.”

Everyone goes absolutely still, their heads slowly turning towards the back of the classroom. Jack’s been so quiet and still the students in the front had actually began doubting his existence. But no, here he is. Looking like he hasn’t got a clue what he did wrong, despite interrupting Clara mid-sentence only a few seconds ago. He did apologize, but still…

Clara clears her throat, sighing deeply. She spends a short moment forcing away her annoyance, not really wanting to make such a big deal out of it. She instead focuses on Jack and his reason for interrupting her. She makes eye contact with him.  
“Alright then, you’re the expert. Might I just ask why? I mean, that is the correct te-”  
Jack shakes his head.  
“No. Not that. The part about it being a gift and stuff. I don’t know about you guys, but in my eyes a gift is something great and amazing. And, well… My so-called gift isn’t. I kind of just want people to know that, you know. And...”

It doesn’t seem like he can think of anything else to say after that, cause he goes quiet. Clara’s just standing there, mouth opening and closing. Her brain seems to have shut down, and she struggles to make it work properly again. She finds herself staring at Jack, just staring. It’s like someone’s given her a punch right in the chest: a deep sadness, mixed with what feels like a disappointment.

Bringing herself back to reality, Clara clears her throat.  
“I… I understand it might feel difficult for you. That’s okay, you know. But… Thing is… I… I don’t want it to feel that way for you. Okay? In my eyes, you should be happy with being different and unique. Different is something you should be proud of, something good.”

It’s pretty obvious she isn’t just talking to Jack, but to the entire class. She looks over each and every one of them, like she’s trying to shove what she’s saying right into their souls. It’s almost like she’s trying to force the information into their heads in some kind of desperation. Like she has just made it her personal mission to make them all realize the severity of the information.

  
***

  
Jack can’t sleep.

He’s kicked the duvet away from his body and he’s now staring at the space below his waist, where his legs should be visible. It wasn’t such a big deal when it was just his feet. You didn’t even see it when he wore shoes! But now… He reaches down to place a hand on his knee. Yes, it’s still there. Not that he doubted that, though. He just needed some kind of confirmation, that’s it.

Shifting his focus to the ceiling, he sighs. He’s not really used to being sad about this kind of problem, how odd it might sound. He’s always been the one to take one day at a time, without worrying about stuff. But of course, that was before he woke up to discovered his legs had vanished during the night.

Giving up on trying to sleep, he gets up and starts making his way downstairs. He walks slowly, doing his best to avoid making any noise that might risk waking up the others. It’s so quiet, he notices. And dark. The downstairs corridor is almost pitch black, and it would have been if it wasn’t for the fact that the light in the sitting room was on.

Clara’s still up, sitting in a couch and reading. She looks up from her book, the confusion on her face turning to a greeting smile as she recognizes the shape in doorway.  
“Hello, Jack. Is there anything I can help you with?” she offers, putting her book down.

It’s too late to return up now. Jack slowly makes his way further into the room, not failing to notice how Clara’s eyes are drawn to where his legs should be. Or, they are there, you just can’t see them.  
“When did your legs disappear?” she asks.  
“About a week ago.”  
She nods.  
“The older someone gets, the faster they start to disappear. Usually.”  
“The way you’re saying it doesn’t make me feel any better, you know.”  
Clara smiles.  
“On the first day, you told me you thought it was pretty awesome. Remember?”  
Jack sighs.  
“Yeah. Yeah, I did.”

Regretting what she just said, Clara shakes her head. She knows Jack must be having a hard time, there’s no question about it. There’s absolutely no reason for her to make it worse by remarking on what he did and didn’t say.

“I once heard about a young girl, who had lost parents. She was living in the street, taking care of herself. And she was good at it, too: finding food and shelter didn’t seem like a problem to her. I guess you can say that she was, in some way, happy.

One day when she woke up, her feet wasn’t there. Like anyone would in that situation, she panicked. Had no clue what was going on. No one knew she was peculiar, so no one had ever explained it to her. And no one ever did.

In a matter of months, the only visible part of her was her head. She hid herself away from the world. She thought something was wrong with her, that she was a monster. Like I said, she had no idea what was going on. She was terrified.

Eventually, the inevitable happened: she couldn’t find her reflection. The mirror that usually gave her a picture of her face, now showed nothing. Her entire life fell apart in an instant.

Absolutely and utterly heartbroken, the girl decided her life isn’t one worth living. That very night she headed out, her destination being the river not far from the village. She… Let’s just say she didn’t plan on returning home.”

“She was gonna kill herself!?” Jack shrieks, alarmed.  
Holding both of her hands up in a calming gesture, Clara attempts to soothe his anxiety.  
“Well, yes. But she never did!”  
Jack blinks at her.  
“Did this really happen or is it just a story?”  
“Every story ever told really happened”, Clara informs him, almost proudly.

Leaning back against the couch’s backrest, she continues the story:  
“Anyway… On her way to the river, the girl passed a bakery. Looking at all the cakes in the window, she thought she should taste something like that one last time. There was only one problem: she didn’t have any money. She wasn’t a dishonest person or anything, but since she was gonna end her life she though she had some kind of privilege. In other words: she was gonna steal a cake.

Entering the bakery, she quickly noticed the fact that no one even seemed to know she was there. The clerk didn’t even lift her head to look at her. The girl walked over to the cake that had caught her eye, just standing there. Waiting for someone to react. To even look at her. That never happened.

In that moment, a whole new world opened itself to the girl. So many new possibilities. So much she could do, and no one who could stop her.

Once again, she was happy.“

“Cute story. Is there a point to it?” Jack asks.  
Clara sighs.  
“Actually, there is. There’s no such thing as a bad life, only a bad attitude.”  
Jack finds himself staring at her, his mouth falling open slightly. How cliche it might sound, it kind of makes sense. It’s true: it doesn’t matter how horrible your life might be, it won’t be that bad as long as you’re positive.

“Thanks”, he says honestly, yawning.  
Clara smiles.  
“Now off to bed with you! It’s getting really late.”  
Jack nods, starting to make his way out the room. Before walking out into the hallway he turns around, giving Clara a smile.  
“Good night.”

  
***

  
Putting the last details on her drawing, Jenny rises from her chair and grabs the paper from the small desk. In her excitement and her hurry to get downstairs she almost trips. She does manege to regain her balance, hugging the paper to her chest as she makes her way down the stairs.

Clara’s sitting in her usual spot on one of the couches. Jenny’s eyes are almost glowing with pride as she walks right over to the ymbryne, holding up her drawing. A smile lights up Clara’s face as she looks at it.  
“It’s a lovely drawing, but why hasn’t that one got any legs?” she wonders, pointing to one of the smiling stick figures.  
“He does! You just can’t see them!” Jenny explains, like it should be completely obvious.  
Clara opens her mouth, but there’s no time for any follow-up questions.

Cause someone knocks on the door.


	16. The visitor

Clara’s first reaction is trying to figure out what just made a noise so similar to someone knocking. Or, maybe there was no sound at all. Maybe she’s just imagining it. Yes, that would make perfect sense. Especially since no one knows they are here. And normals can’t even find the building!

Yes, her brain’s just playing a prank on her, she decides as her attention returns to Jenny’s drawing.

But then there’s another knock. Harder this time. Like the person’s growing impatient. No imagination, then. Clara gives the drawing back to Jenny with a soft smile before rising from the couch. The kids must somehow sense how tense she is: they have all stopped what they were doing to look at her, and they seem pretty worried. Closing her eyes for a second, Clara takes a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She’s probably just overreacting, no big deal. Walking over to the front door and taking a deep breath, she opens it.

Her blood freezes.

“Good evening, Clara.”  
Clara has to actually put her hand on the door frame to keep from falling over.  
“Missy”, Clara hisses out between gritted teeth.  
Missy smiles, a smile that’s way too polite for someone like her.  
“What? Is it a bad timing? Long time no see, I know. You can’t blame me, really. This place was not the easiest to find, you did a good job on picking it out. Oh, that reminds me… Aren’t you gonna introduce me?”

With those words, Missy pushes Clara aside, entering the building like it was her own home. That’s when Clara notices the cylindrical birdcage she’s carrying. The birdcage she swings in front of her as she makes her way down the hall. Clara makes quick work of stopping her: grabbing her arm and holding her still. Missy simply turns around, smiling like she knows something Clara doesn’t.  
“Oh, but come on. I just wanna have a quick chat. And besides, you don’t want to annoy me. Someone might get… Hurt.”

  
***

  
Back in the sitting room, no one’s saying a word. They can all feel something’s wrong, but they don’t know what it is. Rose can hear Clara speaking to someone, but she can’t tell who that person is. And she doesn’t like not knowing. Especially not when she’s sure something’s wrong.

Turns out, she doesn’t have to not know for very long. There’s only a minute until two women appear in the doorway. The first one is several years older than Clara, her dark hair styled into a knot and her dark purple dress almost reaching the floor. She walks right over to the table in the middle of the room, putting the metal cage she’s been carrying down with a thump.  
“Hello, kids”, she greets cheerfully.  
No one answers.

Clara follows close after the mysterious woman. She seems unhappy. Rose immediately gets a bad feeling about the older woman. Who carries a cage around, anyways?

Clara takes a deep breath.  
“Kids, we have a visitor. This is Missy. She… Me and her… Let’s just say we are old friends.”  
“You said no one knew we were here!” Jenny exclaims.  
Clara looks like she’s about to respond, but Missy beats her to it.  
“That’s right little girl, well done. I didn’t know you were here. Which is why I had to go through some struggle to find your dear ymbryne. Believe it or not, but I don’t think she wants to talk to me.”  
“Maybe there’s a reason for that...”, Rose mutters from her spot on the couch.

It doesn’t seem like Jenny appreciates being called a little girl. She’s now glaring at Missy, but no one says anything. Rose has got a feeling no one even dares to speak. There’s a bad feeling growing inside her. She reaches out, silently grabbing the Doctor’s hand in hers. He looks over at her, smiling in an attempt to comfort her.

Martha is the one to break the silence.  
“Did you lose your pet or something?” she asks, referring to the empty cage on the table.  
Missy laughs. It’s a cold, creepy laugh. “Not really, no. Or, that does depend on how you define a pet...”  
“You got what you wanted, you got to meet the kids. Now, tell me: what are you doing here!?” Clara demands.

Instead of replying right away, Missy unlocks the tiny padlock keeping the cage door closed. She opens the door, turning to face Clara.  
“I knew you wouldn’t come willingly, so I needed some kind of… insurance. Oh, don’t look so confused. It’s very simple: get in the cage, or someone gets hurt.”  
Clara closes her eyes for a second, exhaling deeply. For a short moment she looks like she’s stabbed, but she quickly recovers from the horror in her face.

“Can I just…?” she asks in a shaking voice.  
Missy nods, taking a few steps back. Clara relaxes a little, turning around so she can look at the young peculiars. They’re all staring at her with eyes wide with confusion and fear. Rose is the first one to speak, her voice small.  
“Clara? What’s going on?”  
Clara sighs.  
“I… Missy wants my help with something, so I need to go with her.”  
“She’s gonna put you in a cage!” Amelia cries.  
“Yes. About that… She is… There’s… You need to understand something, kids. There are bad peculiars out there, people who think they are doing the right thing but they aren’t. Some of them wants to hurt the normals cause they… They think it’s their right after being oppressed for so long. And, well, Missy is one of them. She… She knows very well I never would agree to come with her, so that’s why she’s got the cage.”

Rose gets up from the couch, walking over so she’s standing right in front of Clara.  
“If you don’t want to go with her, why are you gonna do it?”  
Clara smiles, but it’s a sad smile.  
“That’s the thing. If I don’t do as she says, she’s gonna hurt one of you”, she explains slowly.  
“She wouldn’t!” Martha yells.  
“Believe me, she would.”

“Time’s up!” Missy yells, walking back over to the table and pointing at the cage.  
Clara gasps out a breath.  
“No, please just-”  
Instead of saying anything, Missy raises her arm. Her hand starts glowing softly, and then a beam of golden light shoots out from her palm, right at Jenny. Jenny shrieks in horror, jumping out of the way. The golden beam hits the wall behind the spot where she stood, leaving a hole.

“I said time’s up, don’t make me repeat myself. I’m not getting any younger here, you know.”  
Clara’s face turns pale. She seems to be frozen in one spot, her muscles tensing up. Then she turns her head around, slowly, nodding at Missy.  
“Goodbye, kids. Take care of yourselfs. And maybe, if you’re lucky, you might make the world a better place.”

Her voice cracks. It sounds a bit like she’s crying, but there’s no way of telling since she’s facing away from them. Amelia starts screaming. She makes an attempt to run over to her, but Amy catches her before she’s got the chance to do so. There are tears streaming down her face.

Rose isn’t crying. She’s just standing there, like she’s paralyzed. Shouldn’t she be crying? Isn’t that what people are supposed to do when they are about to lose someone who means a lot to them? She kind of wants to cry, but she can’t. There’s this emptiness growing inside of her, but there’s no tears. Just a deep sadness.

Clara closes her eyes, holding her arms out. Then, suddenly, she’s not there anymore. At first Rose thinks she’s disappeared, but then she sees the black bird flying up towards the ceiling. A raven, she realizes. The bird - Clara - screeches, diving down through the air. It’s a terrible, sad, heartbroken sound. Rose likes to imagine it’s some kind of goodbye.

Then she’s flying into the small cage, and Missy shuts the door and closes the lock. She smiles, like she’s pleased with herself. Rose’s stomach twists at that thought. How can kidnapping someone possibly make you proud? Cause that’s what this is: kidnapping.

And someone should do something to stop it.

Picking up the birdcage and holding it up at her eye level, Missy grins.  
“It was nice meeting you all, but we really have to go now”, she says, turning around.  
Rose is very close to panicking. They can’t just let her get away with it, not without at least putting up a fight! Looking around in a frantic attempt to figure out some kind of plan, she makes eye contact with Amy. The redhead seems to understand exactly what Rose is thinking about. Lighting a flame in her palm, she throws herself at Missy.

What she didn’t think about, however, was the possibility that Missy might have really quick reflexes. She spins around, somehow avoiding the fire and slamming the cage against Amy. It hits her in her temple and she loses her balance, falling. She ends up on her back, crawling backwards as she struggles to recover from the pain and shock.

Now it’s Amelia’s time to react. She screams her sister’s name, setting off running over to her. Amy seems pretty dizzy, laying on her back and looking up at the ceiling. Amelia crawls over to her, poking her arm in an attempt to make contact with her. She starts saying something, but her voice is cut off in a scream as Missy grabs her and lifts her from the floor.

Amelia screams, struggling, and then there’s a sound like teeth biting into something. Missy curses, dropping both her and the cage to the floor. She looks down at her arm in a moment of confusion, where two rows of bitemarks are now visible. The Doctor chooses that moment of distraction to jump up from the couch, lifting the cage from the floor. He attempts to open it, but there’s a lock and he hasn’t got the key.

It doesn’t take many seconds for Missy to realize what’s going on. She ignores the fact that she’s been bitten by a mouth she can’t see, approaching him.  
“Give me the cage”, she tells him sharply.  
The Doctor backs away, hugging the cage to his chest. For a second he’s staring right into Clara’s eyes. She might be in bird form, but he can still see something in her eyes. Something that gives him a feeling she wants them to give her up. Well, that’s not going to happen. He keeps backing, until he’s pressed against the wall.

Missy sighs dramatically.  
“I don’t think you understand what’s going on here. I could help you, all of you. I know what it’s like when no one accepts who you are, believe me. I could chance that. We could chance that. Just be a good boy and give me the cage.”  
At the end of her little speech, she reaches out towards him. He shakes his head, holding his breath.

“Oi! Leave him alone!” Rose yells.  
She kind of regrets her action the second Missy’s focus switches from the Doctor to her. She backs away, as quick as she can without risking tripping on her shoes.

“And what do we have here?” Missy says teasingly, moving closer to her.  
“Don’t touch me”, Rose breaths out in a shaking voice, holding her arms up in front of her like some kind of defense. She’s got her distracted, why isn’t the Doctor running? He could go and figure out a way to get Clara out of the cage! But no, he’s just standing there. And Missy’s getting closer and closer, the grin on her face telling Rose she knows something she doesn’t. Like she’s got a plan. Shutting her eyes in fear, Rose finds herself praying for some kind of miracle.

A miracle does happen, but not the kind she thought of.

The ground seems to vanish from under her. She snaps her eyes open in panic, looking down. No, it’s not the floor that’s disappeared. It’s her that’s leaving the floor, her body now rising higher and higher after being freed from her shoes. She finds herself silently wondering how the clasps just opened themselves. Then it hits her: River! The girl must’ve used her powers to open her shoes. Rose hopes she knows how grateful she is.

Then, there’s no time for thinking or anything. Something - or someone - has just grabbed her foot, yanking her down again. She cries out in suprise, attempting to kick herself free. But she can’t. In a matter of seconds she’s trapped by two arms: one pinning her arms to her sides and the other right under her chin, slowly digging into her throat. She should’ve seen it coming. If someone’s going to be taken hostage, it’s always the blonde girl.

She’s heard that when you die, your entire life flashes in front of your eyes. But, she doesn’t see her life flashing in front of her eyes. All she sees is the Doctor’s brown eyes staring back at her, filled with horror and panic and sorrow.

  
***

  
The Doctor can feel the panic growing inside of him as Rose struggles to somehow free herself. Missy speaks again, but this time it’s all soft and patient.  
“I don’t like hurting people, it’s not something I enjoy doing. But, you’ve left me with no choice since you refuse to do as you’re told. I’m telling you again: give me the bird.”  
Rose manages to gasp out what he thinks is a no. He wants to say something as well, but his mouth feels dry. He can’t get out a single word. He can barely do anything at all.  
Then, a movement catches his eye. It’s Jenny. She’s trying to tell him something, her mouth forming words she chooses not to speak out loud. He’s never been very good at lip reading, and he doesn’t dare to take his eyes off Rose. Her eyes are losing their focus and the arm under her chin is putting an alarming amount of pressure on her throat. He suddenly feels funny, like he’s about throw up or maybe pass out.

Finally, in a state of pure panic, he registers what Jenny’s telling him. Lifting the cage up to his eye level, he looks right into Clara’s eyes.  
“Really sorry, miss Oswald”, he tells her quietly.  
She replies with a croaking, which he’s got no idea what it means. Lifting the cage a little higher, he takes a deep breath.

And throws it across the room.

In an attempt to catch it, Missy have to let go of Rose. Still, she wasn’t prepared for it. She can only watch as Jenny jumps into the air, grabbing the cage and pulling the door from its hinges. Clara’s out in less than a second, the cage crashing to the floor. She spends a few seconds flying around the room like she’s confused before she lands on the floor, changing back into human form. She takes a few deep breath, realizing the severity of the situation.

“To the attic, everyone!” she screams.  
Until now, most of the kids have been observing everything in silent horror. But they all start moving at Clara’s command, running for the stairs. There’s no time for Rose to get back into her shoes and even lesser time for them to find a rope for her, so she ends up clinging to the Doctor’s back with her arms around his shoulders. Her legs and body flies behind him like a cape as he runs up the stairs. Clara makes sure everyone’s on their way up before she follows them, prioritizing their safety over her own.

The Doctor’s just putting his foot down on the second floor when tragedy strikes. He turns his head, looking back just as Missy grabs Clara’s ankle. Rose sees it too: Clara falling and Missy dragging her away from the staircase. She isn’t screaming or anything, just silently struggling.

“Clara!” Rose yells.  
She almost lets go of the Doctor, before remembering that she would float away if she did so. So she keeps holding onto him.  
“We have to help her!” she cries.  
He’s quiet for a moment.  
“I’m sorry, but we can’t. We have to help ourselves first”, he informs her.  
She wants to protest so bad, but she knows he’s right. What could they do, anyway? They really haven’t got much to fight someone who can send a yellow death ray at you. They’ll need something else. Something powerful. Something…

Something dangerous. The metaphorical light bulb goes off in Rose’s head.

“I know how to stop Missy!” she exclaims.  
“And how are we gonna do that?” Jack asks, confusion written all over his face.  
“Remember the leaf Clara told us about? The one in the library?”  
“But we can’t go in there!” Amelia protests.  
“That doesn’t matter now, does it?” River hisses.  
The Doctor holds his hands up.  
“Woah, woah. Everyone calm down. Rose, what do we do?”  
Rose clears her throat.  
“Well, we need to get into the library!”

That’s all she needs to say and he’s hurrying back down the stairs. He really hasn’t got a hard time locating the library door, especially since Rose is shouting out directions from right behind him. He stumbles into the room, almost falling over at the doorway. Rose doesn’t need to point for him to notice the jar with the leaf, but she still does. He grabs it from the shelf.

They find themselves back in the sitting room in a few seconds, watching the battle being fought on the floor. Clara and Missy are more or less wrestling, one of them always dragging the other down again as they are close to breaking free. It’s a sight that sends shivers down Rose’s spine.

The Doctor tries to get Clara’s attention, shouting her name and holding the leaf jar up so she can see it. In one sudden movement she manages to break free from Missy’s grip, changing into bird form and flying up to sit on one of the beams in the ceiling.

Grabbing the jar from the Doctor’s hand, Rose throws it at Missy. The glass breaks and the leaf seems to dissolve into a golden light, spreading out and blinding the two.

The room goes absolutely quiet.


	17. Life goes on

When River decides to sneak down to investigate, she notices two things. The first thing is the fact that Missy’s gone. The second thing is the black bird sitting on the beam in the ceiling. That bird, of course, is Clara. She dives down to land on the floor, changing back into human form. The only thing she seems to be paying any attention to is the tiny moth flapping right in front of her face. She closes her cupped hands around it, trapping it without killing it. Looking around, her eyes lands on an empty glass box sitting on a shelf. She makes quick work of getting the moth into the box, shutting the lid.

When the moth is trapped in the box, Clara seems to actually notice she isn’t the only person in the room. She turns around, an apologetic smile on her face.  
“Sorry about that, had to be taken care of.”

Rose lets out the breath she’s been holding for the last few minutes. A wave of relief washes over her: they did it. Clara’s alright and safe and not in any danger. They did it.

“What happened? Where’s Missy?”  
The unexpected voice shifts Rose’s focus to River, who’s standing in the doorway. The Doctor has turned around, so she doesn’t have to turn her neck to look at her. Her hair is, just as usual, a mess of curls.

Clara clears her throat, lifting the glass box from the shelf.  
“Time for some explanations, I think”, she decides.

  
***

  
Rose gets multiple flashbacks from the day she arrived at the island. Just like the first day, they are all gathered in the sitting room and Clara’s been handing out cups of hot chocolate to everyone. And just like the first day, everyone’s tense and anxious.

Clara’s been pacing back and forth for a minute now, not saying anything. Most of her students has got their eyes focused on the moth in the box, their eyes following its movements.

“So, that’s Missy? She turned into a butterfly?” Amelia asks, breaking the silence.  
Clara stops her pacing, nodding.  
“Yes. But she’s not a butterfly, she’s a moth”, she explains patiently.  
“But… But… How!? A person can’t turn into an animal!” Martha protests.  
“Not naturally, no. But, shapeshifter energy is a powerful thing. I can’t tell you exactly how it happened cause I honestly don’t know. I do imagine the energy in the leaf was still active, and it just did what it’s meant to do. Why she didn’t turn into an regular bird? Well, I don’t know that either.”

She takes a deep breath, looking around the room for a short moment. Her eyes ends up fixed on the glass box.   
"You were very brave, each and every one of you. If it wasn’t for what you did, I probably wouldn’t be standing here right now. Thank you. Still, I’m a bit angry. You risked your life and safety for me, and that’s not something I want. I want you safe. All of you. You understand?”  
They all nod in union. Clara continues:  
“That’s why you’re all grounded for a week”, she announces.  
That sentence is followed by a long line of whines and protesting noises. But she’s not done yet.  
“Those of you who wants to stay, that is. Which I don’t expect all of you will. I will arrange transport to the mainland for anyone who chooses to go home. You will be able to return, of course. I just thought you wanted to spend some time with your families after everything that’s happened. I'll give you a few days to think about it, of course.”

Rose could be wrong, but it does feel like Clara’s looking at her especially. Like there’s some silent message the ymbryne’s trying to give her. She has to ask.  
“What about the ones who stays?”  
Clara gives her a small smile.  
“Well, I could use some help with this place after the… The events of today”, she admits after a bit of hesitation.  
Rose nods, biting her bottom lip. She didn’t ask for herself. She glances at the Doctor. He hasn’t got a home to go to. Does that mean he’ll stay here forever?

“What will we do with the winged insect?” Jack asks.  
“Let’s crush it!” Jenny suggests.  
Clara groans, clearly upset.  
“We’re not gonna crush anything here!” she exclaims.  
“But she tried to kill us!” Jenny protests.  
Clara sighs.  
“Yes, she did. But… Look, killing Missy is not gonna change anything, nor make it better. It won’t make us any better, you know. If anything, it’ll actually make us worse. I mean, she’s all defenseless!”

“We could let her out”, the Doctor suggests helpfully.  
“Let her out!? She’s gonna kill us all!” Martha shrieks.  
“She’s a moth!” Clara reminds her.  
“And she’s tiny”, Rose adds.  
Clara nods silently, thinking about it.  
“It does sound like the best thing to do. She could get a second chance. Maybe think about what she’s done. Not that I know if her mind’s still her, though.”

So that’s decided, then.

  
***

  
When everyone’s finished their hot chocolate they all gather on the beach, right by the water. Clara walks over to stand in the middle of the small ring her students have formed, holding the glass box containing the moth which used to be an evil peculiar who tried to hurt them. Tried to hurt her students. Her students, who she swore to protect.

“Do we just let her out?” Martha asks carefully.  
Clara brings the box up to her eye level, like she’s examining it.  
“I would think so, yes.”  
“What if she hurts someone else?” Amelia asks, her voice anxious.  
“Then I’ll have to talk some sense into her”, Clara replies with an reassuring smile.

The ymbryne then brings the glass box even closer to her face, staring into the tiny black eyes of the moth. She clears her throat.  
“Listen here, you. I don’t know if you can hear me, if you understand what I’m saying or even understand what’s going on. But, the thing is… You made a bad choice today. You came into my school uninvited, then you tried to take me away and then you tried to hurt my students. I hope you’ve learned your lesson now, that you don’t attempt something similar. And, when it comes to this place… If you ever get the idea of returning to this school, or if you maybe tell your friends about it, remember this: it. Is. Protected.”

When her little speech is finished, Clara opens the box. The moth leaves its small prison right away, flying off into the sky. The kids breaks into cheers, some of them even jumping up and down. Rose spins around, suddenly finding herself face to face with the Doctor. He opens his arms, inviting her in a hug, but she’s got other plans. Reaching up and putting a hand behind his neck Rose pulls him closer, pressing their lips together. Just like the first time he seems suprised, but that doesn’t last very long this time. There are still many noises around them, but it’s nothing they really notice. Their minds are far too occupied by each other’s presence, the rest of the world seeming to be fading away.  
***  
Rose hesitates at the door, knocking.  
“Come in!” Clara’s voice calls from inside the room.  
She pushes the door open. The ymbryne’s standing with her hands behind her back, looking out the window. She turns to face her, smiling gently.

“Hello, Rose? Can I help you with anything?”  
Rose nods.  
“Yes. I… I need to confess something”, she says, looking down at the floor.  
Now pretty concerned, Clara walks over to the blonde.  
“Rose? What is it?”  
Rose gathers her curage.  
“A few days ago, on the beach… Me and the Doctor, we- We saw a boat. Hidden. I should’ve told you, I just- I didn’t think. I’m sorry. This entire mess might just be my fault and-”

Before she can finish her sentence, Rose is wrapped in Clara’s arms. The hug suprises her, but it’s also pretty nice. She takes a shaking breath, her body relaxing slightly.  
“Rose, none of this was or is your fault. Heck, it’s the exact opposite of your fault! You were one of the ones who helped save me!”  
Rose nods softly, pulling back so she can look Clara in the eye.  
“I know. Still feel guilty, you know.”  
Now it’s Clara’s time to nod. She lets out a long sigh, pulling away from the embrace. She walks back over to the window, looking out over the garden.

“I first met Missy a few years ago. We didn’t become besties right away or anything, we just talked. Our friendship didn’t last very long, though.”  
“What happened?” Rose asks gently.  
“She told me about her plan to destroy the normals. ‘Putting them in their place’, she called it. Like they deserved it.”  
“But, I don’t understand. The normals have been murdering peculiars throughout history!”  
“Yes, that is true. But, punishing them for it wouldn’t make us any better. That’s not how the world works. Instead, we should be happy that things are finally changing for the better. Anyway… Back then I already knew a lot about both the normals’ and peculiars’ worlds. Missy knew this. She knew I would be able to help her achieve what she wanted, but she also knew I would never agree to do so. She has tried to kidnap me before, but she always failed. An ymbryne is not a creature you want to mess with, believe me. She needed to force me to come with her, she knew that. And she found my weakest spot: all of you.”

Instead of looking out the window, Clara’s now staring at the wall. She’s looking at the drawing Jenny made her. She found it on the floor in the sitting room and now she’s found a nice frame for it, hanging it on the wall. it took a few minutes for her to work out the fact that the stick figures are actually all of her students, her being the one in the middle. She almost started crying when she noticed it, her heart going all soft and warm.

“Will you stay for a while or go home?” Clara asks.  
Rose shakes her head softly.  
“I don’t know, actually.”  
“You don’t have to decide right now, of course not.”  
Rose gives her a tiny smile, the question she’s been thinking about finally making its way past her lips:  
“What about about the Doctor? I mean, he doesn’t have any family.”  
Clara gives her an understanding, knowing look.  
“I don’t know, actually. Why don’t you ask him yourself?”

She gestures at the window. Rose turns around, looking out. The Doctor’s standing in the garden, just below the window. Once he sees her his face lights up, and he starts waving at her.

Rose quickly excuses herself, walking downstairs and out the front door. The Doctor greets her at the bottom of the porch, taking her hand in his.  
“What are you gonna do now?” she asks softly.  
“What do you mean?” he asks.  
“Just… You’ve got nowhere to go...”  
“Oh. That. Well, I… I guess I have to stay here, then.”  
Rose toys with the hem of her t-shirt, biting her lip and looking down at the ground. It’s now or never.

“Or, you could… I mean, if you want to… You could come with me. To my home. You could, I don’t know, meet my mum. We could, I don’t know, maybe even spend christmas together...”  
She trails off, looking down. The Doctor puts a gentle hand under her chin, lifting her face so their eyes meet.  
“I would absolutely love that”, he tells her slowly, kissing her softly.

  
***

  
Changing into her bird form, Clara takes a deep breath before flying out the window she opened earlier. She lets the wind carry her small body, just relaxing with her wings outstretched. She gets a great overview of the garden from the sky: the younger kids running around playing in the grass and the older ones having what seems to be quite serious conversations.

She lands in one of the higher trees. On the ground below her Jenny and Amelia are running around, chasing each other. Her human self smiles. Somehow, those two girls represent so many beautiful things. It honestly suprises her how they can just go back to having fun after everything that’s happened.

Still, it’s not like it used to. Things won’t ever be like they used to. When they, against all odds, managed to defeat someone so much more powerful, something happened. They might not have seen it yet, but Clara did: belief. Belief in themselves, belief no lesson or story book could ever give them. Belief that they can do just about anything. That sort of self-confidence is enough to make anyone unstoppable.

As she leaves the tree and flies up into the bright blue sky, Clara’s convinced that it might be possible, despite everything, to change the world for the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That is it, guys! Thank you so much for reading this story! I'm actually so very happy with how it turned out, especially the ending. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! 
> 
> This is a crossover that will always have a special place in my heart, and I'm so happy I got to share it with all of you!


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